Optimizing your content to drive traffic to your website is not rocket science, but there are simple ways to increase your company’s SEO. Here are ten tactics that every online marketer should be using:
- Stop using meta keywords
Google has clamped down on meta keywords, since most people were using them incorrectly. They act as a spam signal to search engines, so are definitely worth avoiding.
- Focus on main keywords only
Keyword density no longer has the importance it used to. It’s very obvious when a website or blog post is filled with awkwardly positioned keywords. Use natural search phrases just once or twice.
- Pay attention to your meta descriptions
These 150-character descriptions of your site or article influence the click-through rates and contribute to search rankings.
- Add microdata
Major companies are displaying more information in the Google search results, like phone numbers, logos or addresses. This addition of microdata can boost click-through rates by up to 25%.
- Keep URLs short and sweet
While your titles can work as your URLs, they are often too long, which makes it difficult for search engines to categorise your website properly. Try to keep your URL to five words or less.
- Use title tags
These tell the search engines what the page is all about and although you only have around 55 characters to do it in, your title tag should drive people to click on the site.
- Use header tags correctly
Header tags (H1, H2, etc.) identify and determine the importance of the header. It is how sites are categorised, so avoid using generic tags.
- Optimize image alt text
Search engines can’t see images, so image alt text helps to explain what the image is. A basic phrase that describes the image is all you need.
- Ensure inbound links are quality
Monitor where any inbound links come from – they should be natural and relevant to your industry.
- Boost your site speed
Site speed is a marker of quality, so any site that takes longer than five seconds to load is going to be ranked poorly by Google. You may need to upgrade your server, or reduce the size of the big files on your site, like videos or images.
Building a site with high quality content that can easily obtain links from other high value sites, should be your aim. For more on SEO and the different strategies that work, contact us today.