We believe that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be simplified, as it has been made out to be far more complex then it really is. We recommend avoiding any services or techniques that promise fast traffic. Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms and ranking factors. A shortcut as an attempt to “game” the system, often leads to getting penalized or blacklisted, making it very difficult to redeem the website. Here are 8 timeless SEO tips to review for your website.
Quality Content
Quality content has been (and remained) one of the most important factors for search engines. As its been said, “content is king” and we’d like emphasize on context here. There are an infinite number of perspectives, so there is always room for a point of view. Create your content as an authentic representation of you, in a way that benefits your brand and audience. Focus on providing value to your target audience, and most importantly do it in a way that is fun for you and your creativity.
Website Architecture and Design
A good website architecture and design helps ensure a positive user experience. This includes things such as a responsive website, URL friendly links, ease of navigation and readability, and security. A responsive website with consistent branding, ensures a positive user experience across all devices. Security is equally important and there are many layers that can be reviewed and implemented for your website, both at the server and site level. A good start is making your website secure (https) by installing a trusted certificate for encryption, which is known to be favored by search engines.
Website Linking and Structure
Website linking for both internal and external links help build authority with your website. Internal links are links that point to other relevant posts or pages on your website. This is beneficial to your visitors as well as search engines. For visitors, it benefits by linking them to other relevant articles. For search engines it helps boost the authority of a page or post, benefiting your internal linking structure. External links are links that point to your website from other sites. External links are perhaps more difficult, but here are a few ways to go about getting those. You can reach out and ask for a website to link to your post or page, if relevant to their article. Or you could write a guest post or appear as a guest on a podcast or other source that would link back to your website. Another approach is to focus on providing value while encouraging your visitors to share.
Website Performance
Your websites performance is as important to the search engines as it is to your visitors. Your visitors are more likely to leave a website that is slow to respond. So wherever possible optimize your images and code. You can also implement caching on your web server, and configure the site with a CDN (content delivery network) to aid with performance and metrics. There are tools available such as pagespeed insights, to analyze your website and performance.
Search Engine Submission
There are more than a dozen search engines out there. Some will attempt to crawl websites, such as utilizing a robots.txt file, but most require you to submit your website through their webmaster or website management tools. As you go through this process you can submit direct URLs but it’s also recommend to create a sitemap for your website. A sitemap is essentially a structured index of all the pages on your website, preferably in an xml format. Once the sitemap is created, place it at the root of your website (domain.com/sitemap.xml) and proceed with submitting it to search engines such as: Gibiru, Qwant, Startpage, Yandex, Google, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo or Bing, to list a few.
Keyword Research and Analysis
While keywords are an important factor of SEO, we find more value in focusing on quality content with an emphasis of writing for humans versus search engines. It’s easier to integrate your keywords and phrases throughout your content after it’s written for a human, and the content just flows better for ease of reading. There are free keyword planning/research tools available through search engine tools, or you can utilize a paid service such as Wordtracker for a more detailed research tool.
Social Engagement
Social media can help with brand awareness and visibility. We advise keeping your content on your website, as it provides you with full power over your content. You are not reliant on any particular social platform. As you share your content throughout social platforms, you can remind visitors of the website as the source. There are new social platforms starting up all the time. Focus on what resonates with you and expand from there, as you determine and measure the value added. Anymore, most social media outlets require marketing campaigns for exposure and engagement.
Marketing and Analysis
The above factors will help you see organic improvements with traffic and your online presence. You can expand upon this by creating marketing campaigns on search engines or social platforms. As you narrow down your target audience you’ll find more value with your campaigns. We recommend performing a few test campaigns as you review the metrics and website related traffic. Other methods such affiliate marketing and direct advertising can also help expand your online presence. Focus on providing value, through an exceptional product or service, and get creative in your marketing.
In summary, a well-Architected website with a good design and quality content that is properly indexed, is a start to creating good SEO for your website. Your visitors are far more likely to return when they have a positive experience. Focus on quality, be authentic and transparent, and you will find this to be quite advantageous for your online success. Be patient with the process and have fun with the journey.
