It is a well-known fact that the internet is an ever-changing and evolving place. As we all know, Google has been making changes to their algorithm for years now. It seems as if every time you update your SEO practices, they make another change - which can be frustrating! The good news is that there are some things that still work consistently; these tips will help you get on track with what matters in 2021.
So how do you improve your SEO? Let's take a look at four important tips: content marketing, social media marketing, mobile optimization, and video marketing. If you want to succeed in today's digital world then it's imperative to stay updated on the latest trends and keep up with Google updates.
Using keyword research
The first step in optimising your site's SEO is through keyword research and the development of your keywords which involves developing a list of keywords you want your website to rank for.
Use tools like Google Adwords Keyword Tool or SEMrush to find popular keywords related to your industry and see which keywords are most searched for on Google.
Your websites speed
The most important factor in improving your SEO is to make sure that the website loads fast - Google looks at this when ranking the site. If a website generally takes more than 3 seconds to load, then Google will mark it as slow and therefore reduce its visibility in Google – and other search engines – accordingly.
For more information on page speed and how the latest Google page experience update affects your website , see our blog on the latest Google core update in 2021.
Addressing your meta descriptions
On every page of the website, meta descriptions need to be added for each page with 156 characters or less but no more than 157, otherwise it will be ignored by search engines. This description acts like a snippet on Google so people can see what your page is about.
Adding Alt attributes to images
Make sure the images on your website have alt text (alternative text) . An alt attribute describes the image in words for people who can't see the pictures. The alt text should be descriptive of what the image is and match the meta title .
The image should also reflect your website's brand. For example, if you're a fitness company, make sure to include relevant images of people exercising.
When adding alt text to your images, you must remember to include your target keyword in the alt text for each image and write it in a way that you would describe it to a visually impaired individual.
Using Schema structured content
Ever wondered how FAQ's, news and recipe content looks so different when you search for it? The reason behind it is SEO's use of schema structured content (or rich snippets) to allow that content to look a certain way in search engines so users can access them and read content. When Google sees the mark up on your website, it will see that as a news article and tell users exactly what they are looking at without having to click through to the page.
When you use Schema.org tags, Google shows an extra snippet about this section or product in their search results because they know it's important – therefore people click on it more often than other result snippets. This helps your website by getting a boost in traffic from Google when relevant queries are searched for if you have good content there.
Google use of H1, H2's & H3's
Google likes pages that are well-structured and uses the schema.org structured data mark-up, which means using h1 to identify the title of each page and adding a meta description – Google looks out for these using special bots to crawl your site in order to understand what is on it.
Good use of 'Breadcrumbs' on your website
To make it easy to find certain products or services, then "breadcrumbs" are used by search engines to navigate between pages. They often appear in the sidebar and contain the full path that Google should follow to get from one page on a website to another using sub-levels, for example:
Home > Homepage > Review of product X
Good use of breadcrumbs will help your website's SEO as Google and other search engines are able to understand the structure of your site better.
Internal linking
Another important factor is internal linking (internal link structure). Internal link’s are findable by search engines such as Google and other search engine bots, because they follow the link from one web page directly to another web page within your website (instead of following an external link) – therefore increasing your SEO rankings.
For example, if you sell T-shirts with funny sayings on them then each t-shirt design could be linked back to the main homepage or category section in order for people to easily find what they're looking for.
This stands to reason that developing an internal linking strategy is important to your websites overall SEO strategy.
Anchor Text Links
Every blog post or page that is created should also have anchor text links back to the homepage or main category pages so that visitors can easily navigate around your website. You don't want Google to see a big chunk of no-follow links across each page, because this will result in a penalty for not having enough good quality internal links on your website.
Acquire backlinks
Probably one of the most tedious tasks SEO professionals have to deal is getting backlinks to clients websites. Backlinks are simply hyperlinks or website addresses that point to your website in order for people to access it. These links can be achieved via guest posting, press releases or several other effective methods of getting links which link back to your website.
To get links from other websites you need to ask people who have a relevant website to link back to yours using anchor text that describes what your page is about so that Google finds it and understands what it's about.
To get more traffic from search engines like Google, then guest blogging should be used on other high-authority blogs in order to submit unique content with valuable information expressed as opinions or tips. This will help the website rank higher in Google for that keyword phrase and also send new visitors towards the original website when they click through from the third party blog website.
Overall, try to build a well-structured website (with good internal links) that loads quickly in order to rank higher in Google for popular keywords – this will help to improve search engine results and increase traffic from new visitors who are searching for information relevant to your product or services online.
With the right SEO strategy, you can improve your page rankings and increase traffic to your site. That’s why it’s essential that all websites have an updated SEO plan in place. Contact us today if you need help with adding or updating any of these strategies for your website.
Comments