Search engine optimization (SEO) is a really important part of website design and development. With it the search engines will shine light on your page. Without it, you’ll have to work that much harder to be found. This means missed opportunities and lost revenue. Many businesses struggle with SEO, as they don’t know where to start or how to improve their website’s ranking. Here are five simple strategies for improving website SEO that really work:
Optimize Your Website’s Content
Content is king when it comes to SEO. This means that your website’s content should be high-quality, relevant, and informative. It should also contain keywords that are relevant to your business and target audience. By optimizing your website’s content, you’ll be able to rank higher in search engine results and attract more visitors to your site. Whilst the search engines use your content, it is important to write your content for humans and not search engines, because bringing customers to your site isn’t any good if they have no reason to stay.
Update your website content regularly. This indicates to the search engines that your website is still reverent and active. It also helps to ensure your potential customers are given the most up to date prices, services and availability.
Use Meta Tags
Meta tags are HTML tags that provide information about a web page to search engines. These tags include the title tag, meta description, header tags and alt tags.
Don’t make the mistake of adding extra keywords to your meta tags that don’t related to your page. Loading on keywords is picked up by the search engines and you will actually be penalised for them not rewarded. Choose target keywords that relate to your website or product.
Alt tags are used by screen readers to describe and image to a sight impaired person. By using alt tags on all your images, you’ll be able to provide search engines with more information about your website, which will help them to rank it higher in search results. But don’t load these with words that don’t apply to your image.
Don’t Skip Social Media
Social media can be a powerful tool for improving website SEO. By sharing your website’s content on social media, you’ll be able to attract more visitors to your site, which will lead to more backlinks and higher search engine rankings. Additionally, many social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, have their own search engines, which can help your website to be found by even more people.
Build Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. These links signal to search engines that other websites consider your website to be valuable and credible. The more backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank in search results. To build backlinks, you can reach out to other websites and ask them to link to your site, or you can create high-quality content that other websites will naturally want to link to.
A good way to get more backlinks is to find businesses that compliment yours and give quality referrals. Are you a wedding photographer? Create a page of your favourite wedding vendors. Are you a Plumber? Create a page of other trades like an electrician, a cabinet maker and a painter. By creating a referral community with like minded businesses you can help each other grow and you’re also adding more value to your customers.
Monitor Your Progress
Finally, it’s important to monitor your website’s progress over time. By using tools like Google Analytics, you’ll be able to track your website’s traffic, backlinks, and search engine rankings. This will allow you to see which strategies are working and which ones aren’t, so you can make adjustments as needed.
You can also see where your website users reside, which can help you to refine your location targeting. if half your visitors are from a country you don’t service then you know you need to work on making your website more locally focused.
By implementing these five strategies, you’ll be able to improve your website’s SEO and attract more visitors to your site. With a little time and effort, you’ll be able to see measurable results and boost your bottom line.
