SEO is complex.
It’s not a DIY project that you can carry out by following an online how-to manual. It also takes some time before it starts showing results.
Finally, it will cost you.
But, the fact that SEO is absolutely worth it outweighs all the cons.
These three things are the main reasons why many startups and small businesses are reluctant to seriously consider using this marketing discipline.
Here are some tips and tricks that will help your search engine optimization efforts and improve your website rankings.
Impress the Google menagerie
Although Google doesn’t reveal too much when it comes to its more than 200 algorithms, which are the key factors for the success of your SEO efforts, we know that there are three most important ones and they are: links, content, and RankBrain.
We’ll discuss the first two a bit later, and when it comes to the third, which is one of the latest additions to the comprehensive Hummingbird algorithm, it’s a machine-learning system capable of recognizing and learning new patterns according to which people perform their searches, and identifying the most relevant pages for every particular query.
If we bear in mind that Google processes about 3.5 billion searches a day, it’s clear that you need to try very hard to stand out from this crowd, which does sound scary, but according to Gary Illyes, a Google’s analyst, pleasing RankBrain is very simple – use natural, conversational language in your content, and make it sound human.
Of course, don’t neglect other parts of Hummingbird, and try not to annoy Panda and Penguin which are in charge of fighting spam.
Pirate tracks copyright infringement attempts and punishes them severely so stay away from copycatting practices, while Pigeon tries to improve local results.
The bottom line is that you should try not to ruffle Hummingbird’s feathers, or else!
Speed does matter
These days everything revolves around users’ needs which is why UX is extremely important.
When people are browsing and shopping online, they tend to be very impatient.
A survey, according to which visitors abandon websites that take more than three seconds to load, perfectly illustrates the previous statement.
Google takes speed very seriously to the extent that this metric significantly impacts the most popular search engine’s rankings.
One of the methods to speed up your website and catapult it to the top position of search results is to reduce server response times.
The physical location of your server plays an important role, as the closer your server is to your target audience’s geographical location, the faster your website will load.
For example, if you’re doing search engine optimization for Hong Kong, you should opt for a web hosting service with servers located in the nearby area.
Make your visitors stick around longer
It’s not only important to get people to visit your site. If you don’t offer them a reason to stay and explore it, then they’ll quickly leave and they won’t come back.
We’re not talking only about your bottom line and conversion rates here, but about search engine rankings.
“Dwell time” is a metric that Google uses to identify how relevant your website is by measuring how much time a visitor spends on a page before returning to the SERPs.
While there’s more to this metric than the above-mentioned simplified description of a certain time frame, we’ll focus on one of the ways to capture your audience’s attention for more than a couple of minutes.
Namely, a research study claims that if you want to hit the sweet spot, your blog posts should be 2,000-2,500 words long.
However, other websites have come to a conclusion that a 7-minute read performs the best.
But don’t observe these stats as something carved in stone because longer blog posts are only a vehicle that allows you to develop your ideas, as well as put some relevant outbound links and keywords, thus providing more value to the reader.
In other words, if your content isn’t helpful, informative, and entertaining, nobody will read it regardless of how long it is.
The strongest link
Backlinking is one of the cornerstones of any successful SEO strategy.
If you want to expand your online visibility and boost your rankings, you need to master the previous step first.
Producing fresh, high-quality, unique content that offers a new take on a certain topic is a great way of earning backlinks.
In plain English, if your content is exceptional, your chances of getting authority links from other bloggers and journalists significantly increase.
As uniqueness is the crucial factor for this, you should create content in which you’ll provide an account of some original research studies, or which is based on expert interviews.
Sometimes discussing controversial issues and giving your own opinion about them can also earn you some good backlinks.
Guest posting is another method of connecting with established bloggers and start building links as well as your own credibility.
SEO isn’t just an unnecessary expense that will burden your already tight marketing budget - it’s a highly profitable investment that will pay off and boost not only your Google rankings but also your revenue.
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