SEO does not have to be difficult. In fact, it is a straightforward and beautiful thing, which most webmasters misunderstand. SEO is not against you. Your website is a part of the optimization process. There is no way; Google steps out of bounds to harbor a grudge against your particular website. Unless of course, you know you look spammy, have plagiarized content, duplicate pages, doubtful IP and so on.
To begin with, search engine optimization is a process. It is not an event, and it is not a package. Many sources will try to sell SEO “quick fixes” for your site that will catapult you to #1 position on all Google search results. Firstly, that’s impossible. Secondly, well, let us say they do make it possible. Nevertheless, what will you do ranking #1 for a product that has nothing to do with your business? It will be like selling a fridge to a polar bear.
SEO is highly specific. That is why many business owners find it rather daunting to optimize their multi-page sites for the leading search engine. Here’s a no-brainer – why don’t you start with targeted keywords?
What are Targeted Keywords?
Every business website has a purpose. Yours might be selling women’s shoes, or compression wears for athletes. In any case, your niche has a few keywords that perform well on the internet. Use tools like Google Keywords Planner and WordStream to find out what people are saying about your products and services right now.
Next, is choosing the right keywords. Is there at all a “right keyword”? Well, obviously enough, the answer is “No.” You can pick a keyword that is moderately high volume. Long-tailed keywords tend to perform better. Now, how long a keyword will indeed depend on the context of usage and your target audience.”There is no ONE PERFECT keyword for all websites belonging to the niche. It is logically implausible. Therefore, you need to resort to the good of hit-and-trial and some reliable statistics to predict the performance of your keyword choices”, says our expert from the search engine optimization Sioux Falls team.
What is Good Content?
We have heard at nausea, “Content is King.” Well, that is true, but that is no way explains what kind of content lures the search engines. Let us demystify it for you –
- Simple
- Correct (grammatically and informative)
- Not duplicate (no plagiarism)
- Well shared
- Fresh, easy and fun to read for the human audience.
Content can also mean your images, videos, and GIFs. Chances are, you are already using multiple forms of content on your website because your readers love them.
The Big Question is, Have you Optimized Them?
Text content is rather easier to optimize. Thanks to plugins like All in one SEO and Yoast, you can find out about the quality of your content, readability quotients, keyword distribution and SEO friendly features. You can use multiple other SEO plugins to see if your content has any accidental plagiarism. Yoast will also help you out with header tags, alt tags and meta tags of your content. Creating great content not only needs a good writer, but it also needs a smart plugin that will make your work a lot easier.
Images and videos, on the other hand, can range from moderately easy to difficult, depending on the platform you are using. We love WordPress due to its simplicity. Even if you don’t want to use added plugins for video and image SEO. You can work on their optimization factors right from the back-end. Add Alt tags, include meta descriptions and do not forget a generous sprinkle of the target keyword in both.
The Secret to Good Navigation:
Any website that is easy to browse earns more views. This is common knowledge. The rule of the thumb is – each page of your site should be only three clicks away from your homepage! That is the secret sauce to SEO. Make sure; your website is readily available for all users without too many interruptive pop-ups and messages. Keep the subscription pop-up on the homepage. If you are sharing your site somewhere, always share the best performing page for your viewers.
Next step is to find out about cross-compatibility. Your site should load correctly in all browsers. Google may be the lead engine, but Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari are joint rulers of the browser world. If your site performs remarkably on Chrome but refuses to load in Opera, Safari, and Firefox, it is a lost cause. You will lose out on a huge section of the crowd, who do not use Chrome.
Linking for a Brighter Future:
Next, go on an active hunt for good back-links. Ahrefs.com will give you a good idea about the concept of link farms, bad quality links and pristine links that you need right now. You will also get a working idea of the links that your specific competitors are using right now while you read this article. Link building and SEO are inseparable. There is no good SEO without great link building. Link farms are a big “NO.” Stay away from buying poor quality links. Google looks down upon sites that use poor quality links. The present algorithm actively penalizes sites that indulge in link farming and link buying practices.
If you are new at this and if you have no idea where to begin, start with analyzing your site. You can start with Google InSights, or you can hire a professional to do it for you. Usually, for new sites, the load is less, and even new site owners can manage SEO audits. For old businesses, which are changing hands or undergoing a massive overhaul, the task is too much for an untrained professional to tackle. In such cases, you need a professional team to take care of your SEO audits, existing dead links, dead pages, 404s and 301s before you can claim your market.
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