SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, but there are a few basics that every website owner should know. By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your site is well-optimised and has a better chance of ranking high in search engine results pages (SERPs).
1. Do your research
Before you start optimising your site, it’s important to do your homework and understand what keywords your target audience is using to search for businesses like yours. Use keyword research tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner and semrush.com to find out which keywords are most popular and how difficult they are to rank for.
2. Create unique, keyword-rich content
Once you’ve targeted the right keywords, it’s time to start creating content that is optimised for those terms. Every page on your site should have unique, keyword-rich content that is relevant to the topic at hand. In addition to using the keywords throughout the text, be sure to include them in the title, meta tags, and URLs.
3. Promote your content
Creating great content is only half the battle – you also need to promote it in order to get traffic. There are a number of ways to promote your content, including social media, email marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
4. Build links
Link building is an important part of any SEO strategy. By getting other websites to link to your site, you can improve your site’s search engine ranking and visibility. There are a number of ways to build links, including guest blogging, directory submission, and social bookmarking, profile creation.
If you’re looking for help with your SEO strategy, or want to outsource your link building efforts or want to hire a digital marketing company to look after your digital campaigns, we can help. Our team of experts at Atula Technologies Ltd. have years of experience in creating and executing successful SEO campaigns, and we know the best ways to get links for your website. Contact us today to learn more about our services!
5. The fundamentals of an effective SEO strategy never change
Even though the specifics of SEO are always changing, the fundamentals of an effective strategy remain the same. By focusing on creating quality content, building links, and promoting your site, you can ensure that your site is well-optimised and stands a better chance of ranking high in search engine results pages.
6. Although SEO is complex, there are a few basics that every website owner should know
SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, but there are a few basics that every website owner should know. By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your site is well-optimised and has a better chance of ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs).
7. Have a UX-centric approach
In order to rank well in search engines, it’s important to have a UX-centric approach where the user’s needs are always put first. This means creating a website that is easy to use and navigate, with relevant and informative content. It also means ensuring that your site loads quickly and is mobile-friendly, as more and more users are searching on mobile devices.
8. Make sure your site is accessible to search engines
If you want your site to be indexed by search engines, you need to make sure that it is accessible to them. This means using proper coding and structure, as well as submitting a sitemap to Google. You can find out more about how to do this in our article on website accessibility.
9. Try to earn a featured snippet
A featured snippet is a block of text that appears at the top of the search results page, above the regular results. It is designed to give users quick and easy access to the information they are looking for. If you can earn a featured snippet for your target keywords, it can be a great way to increase your click-through rate (CTR) and organic traffic.
10. optimise your site for voice search
With the rise of virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, more and more people are using voice search to find information online. This means that it’s important to optimise your site for voice search, which is slightly different from traditional text-based SEO. Our article on SEO for voice search can help you get started.
11. Understand the different types of SEO
There are a number of different types of SEO, each with its own focus and goals. The main types of SEO are:
On-page SEO: This type of optimization focuses on optimising individual pages on your site for specific keywords.
Off-page SEO: This type of optimization focuses on building links and promoting your site in order to improve your search engine ranking.
Technical SEO: This type of optimization focuses on improving the technical aspects of your site, such as site speed and mobile-friendliness.
12. Remove heavy-loaders from your website
One of the technical aspects of SEO is site speed, which refers to how quickly your website loads. A slow website can negatively impact your search engine ranking and user experience. In order to improve your site speed, you need to remove heavy loaders such as large images and videos, as well as unneeded code. You can find out more about how to do this in our article on improving site speed.
13. optimise your images
Another way to improve your site speed is to optimise your images. This means reducing the file size of your images without sacrificing quality. You can do this using an image compression tool like TinyPNG or Kraken.io. Once you have compressed your images, you should then upload them to a content delivery network (CDN) like Cloudflare or StackPath.
14. Use responsive design
Another technical aspect of SEO is mobile-friendliness, which refers to how well your website works on mobile devices. With more and more people using mobile devices to search the web, it’s important to make sure that your site is optimised for these users. The best way to do this is to use responsive design, which means that your site automatically adjusts to work well on any device.
15. Implement AMP pages
AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, and it is an open-source project started by Google with the aim of improving the performance of web pages on mobile devices. AMP pages are stripped-down versions of regular web pages, which makes them load faster. You can learn more about how to implement AMP pages on your WordPress site in our article on the best AMP plugins.
16. Use a caching plugin
Caching is a process of storing static files on your server so that they can be served more quickly to users. This can help improve your site speed, as well as reduce the strain on your server resources. There are a number of different caching plugins available for WordPress, such as WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache.
17. Minify your code
Minifying your code means removing unnecessary characters from your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, such as whitespace, comments, and code that is not needed. This can help reduce the size of your files, which can improve your site speed. You can minify your code using a plugin like Autoptimize or Better WordPress Minify.
18. Use a CDN
A CDN is a content delivery network, which is a system of distributed servers that deliver content to users based on their location. Using a CDN can help improve your site speed, as well as reduce the strain on your server resources. There are a number of different CDNs available, such as Cloudflare and StackPath.
19. optimise your database
Your WordPress database stores all of your website data, such as posts, pages, comments, and settings. Over time, your database can become bloated with unnecessary data, which can slow down your website. In order to keep your database running smoothly, you need to optimise it regularly. You can do this using a plugin like WP-optimise or Advanced Database Cleaner.
20. Disable hotlinking
Hotlinking is when someone else includes an image from your website on their own site. This can result in increased traffic to your site, as well as increased strain on your server resources. In order to prevent hotlinking, you need to add some code to your .htaccess file. You can find out more about how to do this in our article on preventing hotlinking.
21. Track your results
Finally, it’s important to keep track of your SEO progress so that you can fine-tune your strategy as needed. Google Analytics is a free tool that allows you to track your website’s traffic and see how users are finding your site.
By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your website is well-optimised and has a better chance of ranking high on search engine results pages. However, SEO is an ever-changing field, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices.
