Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is perhaps the only constant for every website owner. And why not! SEO is the biggest gamechanger for ranking higher on the search engines, helps you get found and fuels sales for your business. As you move into another promising year, make sure you implement these 7 proven ways to amp up your SEO game:
1. Remove UNNECESSARY Pages from your website
There are always lots of irrelevant pages on a website which may have been created without any concrete strategy or that have become obsolete over time. They may, however, have been indexed by Google and might even be ranking for irrelevant searches that matter less NOW for your business. Delete these zombie pages so that search engines like Google can give preference only to relevant pages.
2. Publish LESS, but High-quality Content
It’s a myth that you have to publish more and more content to rank higher on Google. It might have been a fad once but that’s not the case anymore. In fact, to get quality traffic from Google what matters now is to produce LESS, but high-quality, content that is optimized with the right keywords and gives bountiful information to readers and above all is helpful.
Focus on the VALUE you are providing to your audience, not on the number of posts and if they exceed those of your closest competitors. It ‘s okay even if you produce one ‘awesome’ post in 4-6 weeks.
3. Look Beyond Google –What about the App Store and Amazon?
It’s 2019, and its time businesses move ahead of just restricting their vision to rank only on Google Search. It has been frequently debated as to whether your brand visibility and surge in traffic is limited to the dominance of search engines. Maybe not anymore.
Businesses can now focus on being found anywhere their audience might be searching. So why not work towards being found in the App store or even an ecommerce store. Make sure you create enough visibility for your brand to reach your target audience
4. On-Page SEO Holds the Key – Can Make or Break You!
On-page SEO or on-page optimization holds the key to your page/website ranking in the search engines. It’s measured mainly by 3 parameters:
- Whether your content is crawler or bot accessible,
- Whether your site offers an awesome user experience
- Whether your website page provides content and value
So, it is mainly about ensuring that the search engines effectively understand a page’s topic and keywords and can match it to relevant searches.
Another awesome tip here is to identify the top three ranking URLs for your target keyword. Once you find all the keywords they are ranking for, integrate them in your page to optimize it even better.
5. On-Page ‘Dwell’ Time – Let Your Visitors Love to Party Here!
SEO success in 2019 is not just about driving traffic to your web page, but also about sustaining the interest of your visitors and engaging them enough so that they spend time or ‘dwell’ on your page longer. It is about getting the value (information they were seeking) and also coming back for more later. Google has made it competitive for users – the longer the dwell time for your page, the higher it ranks on search engines. So how do you do that?
Well, some proven quick fixes are:
- Keeping your most important (searchable) content at the top, i.e. above-the-fold. This may involve cutting down unnecessary space at the top or removing large images as seen in most blog posts.
- Creating engaging Intros because they can be a major factor on whether your audience will stay on your page or click away.
6. Mobile-first indexing is Crucial – Do not let Speed Fail You
As you are aware, since March 2018 Google has been advocating for, and initiated, the process of migrating sites to mobile-first index. So, even though mobile indexing does not mean ‘only mobile’, it does, however, mean a single index with both mobile and desktop versions. With Google choosing to use the mobile version as the primary ranking index, it would be wise to not procrastinate with going the mobile route. Also, check your mobile page speed, since mobile page speed is now a ranking factor for mobile as well.
7. Technical SEO Can Be a Gamechanger
With the world moving from mobile first to AI-first, structured data mark-up is the way forward. However, that calls for some improvements since AI is about the fast processing of content and its interrelation and calls for supportive information architecture, tags, metadata, structured mark-up, etc.
This might require you to amp up your technical SEO like Speed, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), and Javascript, to name a few. A simpler site with improved page speed is necessary, considering Google rewards faster loading sites. And don’t forget the search engine’s love for JavaScript-driven websites (such as those driven by frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue.js. It’s also time to consider how your website can evolve into a PWA and offer additional value to your users.
BONUS: Understand what your Audience Wants
As competition for search engine rankings intensifies in 2019, it is extremely important for you to understand where your audience is. Identify the medium – text (Blog), images (infographics), audio (podcast), video – that they are most engaged by and create content that is of value to them. And, if you are able to add value to your audience’s journey, you get SEO brownie points that can help you rank higher in the search results.
Rajat Chauhan is a full stack marketer working as a head of Digital Marketing at Techtic Solutions, Inc. with a deadly focus on better writing and disciplined creativity while implementing growth hacking strategies for organizational growth.
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