Over the years, a lot has changed in the world of search engine optimisation. However, certain fundamental principles have remained unchanged. The following 5 SEO tips will help you increase organic traffic to your website and improve your search engine ranking:
Remove anything that could be slowing down your site
Page speed has been a critical factor when it comes to SEO for over 10 years, when Google first included site speed as one of the all-important ranking factors. To improve your site speed, lose any non-essential elements that slow down your site and make sure your images are optimised. If you’re a WordPress user, consider deactivating or removing plugins you may have installed and activated but don’t actually need or no longer use. Another tip is to declutter your sidebar, so it only contains essential widgets.
Don’t focus on keywords and SEO when writing content
Although keyword research is still crucial to your SEO, search engine algorithms have evolved. In the past, keywords would determine your rankings, but now Google is more interested in what others think about your content, and the words they use to describe it when they share links to your site. When you’re writing, try to forget that Google and other search engines exist and create content that will help someone – This is known as SEO copywriting. Also, don’t forget to add relevant keywords to any images you upload to your site.
Write unique meta descriptions for every page on your site
While having a well-crafted meta description is one of the most important SEO tips, it is often the most neglected. If you’re not familiar with the term, a meta description is the first section that people see when Google serves up your page to search users. While there are exceptions to the rule, search engines generally do not respond well to duplicate content. So, having identical meta descriptions on multiple pages could get you into trouble. WordPress users can easily fix this by installing a plugin such as Yoast SEO.
Optimise your website for voice search
Voice search is a relatively new addition to SEO news as it only started to become relevant in 2018. Though, as voice search technology improves and becomes more accessible and that trend is going to continue. Basic online searches make up over half of voice search queries, so creating high-quality, voice search optimised FAQs could be beneficial to improve the rank of your posts. Also, since most voice searches are local, it would make sense for businesses to use geo-targeted keywords, especially if you’re a local business or have a target audience in a specific geographic area.
Make sure your website has ‘Mobile-First indexing’
Firstly, “mobile-first indexing” means that Google now considers the primary version of your site to be its mobile version. Not to worry though, if you don’t have a mobile site, your desktop site will still be used. BUT if your site isn’t mobile-friendly your rankings may take a hit.
If you need some help in optimising your website to improve your search engine ranking, please contact us for a chat, we’d be more than happy to advise you on the next steps.