Do you ever wonder why some brands are always doing great on search engines?
SEO is an ever-growing field that can be overwhelming for first-time users. Big brands continue to gain traction and perform great on SERP because of the consistent efforts channeled towards SEO.
If you want to have a fair chance at competing with the big brands for a position in the first page of search engines, here are 7 SEO fixes you can do to reinforce your already executed SEO strategy, for better search engine ranking:
SEO Tips for Better Search Engine Ranking
1. Improve your visual appeal strategy.
Visual appeal is the new area of focus for today’s generation.
While visual appeal could mean using images and videos on your website, it also means enhancing the aesthetic appeal of your content.
Use heading tags to break off the long wall of words in your page, as well as pointers like bullet points to list your points.
Additionally, make good use of markup schema for SEO.
Since schema was integrated into website content, search engines are becoming more interactive. Remember that visual content has more retention, so be cautious about picking images that complement your content and brand overall.
2. Make your site mobile-friendly.
As you optimize your website for desktop sites, remember to do the same for mobile sites.
Search engines change their algorithm several times in a single year, which is why Google is continually leaning more towards mobile-first indexing, and so should you.
To accomplish this and have better search engine ranking, you can use the Google Search Console SEO tool to add and verify the mobile version of your site. Then test the functionality of your mobile site, in terms of user experience, for example, the page loadd speed.
Real also: How to Get Started with Mobile-First SEO Strategy
3. Use alt text in images.
Like you would optimize for your content, you should do the same for your images.
Images today are more likable by users because of their flexibility to share with peers reinforcing the concept of social validation, which makes it necessary for you to optimize your images as well.
Using alt text not only allows you to capitalize on your keywords that will help you be easy to find by users but also, alt texts help Google understand what your image is when it crawls your website.
4. Optimize for your audience first.
Many websites get caught up in optimizing for search engines that they forget to optimize for the audience, which is the most important aspect of SEO.
Ideally, your audience is the determinant of your performance on search engines because they are the ultimate consumers of your content. The more an audience likes and enjoys your content, the better your site performs.
Remember that Google is particular about the needs and satisfaction of the consumers, which is why you should optimize for them first for better search engine ranking.
Ensure the content is sensible and has a natural flow to it especially as regards the use of keywords.
Create humorous and intriguing content that will keep your audience long enough on your site, but better still, that will get them to revisit your site afterward.
5. Focus on link earning.
Link building is an interesting SEO process that is shifting as times change.
While using other people’s link on your site does something for your ranking on search engines, link earning matters more.
Focus on gathering backlinks from other sites, but more so, from a credible and renowned site. This is great for your credibility but also for your ranking on search engines.
For this tactic, you need to channel a substantial amount of time and effort in securing quality links that you will not lose with time. This means creating and maintaining relationships with other site owners if at all they are to link back to your site.
There are a couple of link-building tools you could use, but the main way you can get ahead of your game is by contributing as a guest writer other websites. Identify top website within your industry, and generate quality content they can use on their site in exchange for a link.
Read also: How to Use Local Links to Boost SEO: A Beginner’s Guide
6. Frequently audit your site.
So much of your efforts could go to waste if something as small as a broken link of a robot.txt file error happens.
Consider analyzing your site overall to scan for errors and loopholes and generate actionable reports for what aspects of your site you can improve, including page speed.
Tools like Google Analytics can provide you with full site analytics reports that can be useful for adjustments for better results.
7. Follow SEO trends.
As you might already know, search engines change their algorithms periodically in order to prevent people from playing the system, which would give them the upper-hand against their competitors.
Here’s what you need to do to update your website:
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Google believes that every website must be highly responsive in order to reduce the bounce rates. They wish to provide all users with an invaluable experience while browsing through the pages.
Now, they have revealed the accelerated mobile pages, which is an open-source protocol that allow immediate loading of pages on smartphones. Moreover, the pages load so quickly without consuming more mobile data. In fact, the regular webpages would use around eight times more data than the new protocols presented by Google.
If you still haven’t, take advantage of this feature to improve the user’s experience and your SEO rankings.
Artificial Intelligence is a thing now
Google decided to integrate machines with artificial intelligence to make search algorithms smarter and more human-like.
According to Google, their new concept is going to provide users only with relevant information when they search. This means that website owners must improve their sites making them more unique.
From what we see, black hat SEO techniques are becoming even less effective nowadays. What’s more, such techniques can harm your rankings considerably. High-quality articles, which provide value, are your only choice to rank higher.
User-friendly experience
For Google, there’s nothing more important than the quality of service you provide to all visitors. The Silicon Valley enterprise has made user experience optimization one of their top-ranking factors.
The largest search engines such as Google and Bing rank websites with a better user experience higher than other sites. Now, not only your design must be flawless, but it must be simplistic as well, and customers should not get confused or lost while searching for their desired service.
Optimized Links
Distinguish your brand by creating branded URLs in order to separate your website with others. Such URLs are highly beneficial for the SEO of your site and you should make sure that yours are updated. This would improve your SEO score considerably.
Make sure that you use ‘short branded links’ as they are unique and users prefer them more. These links look like this: goo.gl ( Google ) / pep.si ( Pepsi Co. ) or nyti.ms ( New York Times ). Our statistics show that the CTR is increased, at least, two times with shorter URLs. Moreover, the links will help you whenever there is a limit in post characters on social media platforms.
Try to integrate these trends into your search engine optimization efforts to ensure that your website is updated. This will allow you to stay on top of your competitors and earn even more visitors.
With these 7 quick fixes, you ideally have all the prime factors to focus on as you work your way to better search engine ranking.