You don’t have to be an expert in the field to know that a website (new or existing) needs SEO optimization.
Search Engine Optimisation, or simply SEO, is a complex process of ensuring that your website is as visible as possible in search engine results. It takes energy, time and often money invested, but the results are rewarded in return.
Content for SEO
When it comes to SEO, the first thing to consider is content. Structured, to-the-point text with quality information that could immediately answer the questions or needs of interested people. Content should be educational, informative and as dynamic as possible. Try to cover the full range of products or services you offer that potential customers might be interested in.
Meta tags
Meta tags are HTML elements that describe the content of a website. They are vital for both search engines and users.
Search engines read these tags, and based on them decide whether the site has good, poor, useful or irrelevant content.
From an SEO point of view, there are two important meta tags: meta title and meta description.
Try to keep the following in mind:
Meta title:
- add the essential words at the beginning
- include relevant words in the title
- do not exceed 60 characters (including spaces)
- include the brand/company name
- use unique meta titles for each page
Meta description:
- express yourself using active mode
- no more than 130 characters (including spaces)
- put the keyword at the beginning
- include a “call to action”: “read here to…”
- use unique descriptions specific to your site
Social media
Many of your customers already have social media accounts. Why shouldn’t you be there too? A strong image is built by your audience. You can create a whole community on social media, you can have followers, subscribers, who will become loyal customers. Share links to your page, interact with subscribers and you’ll see your traffic grow slowly, slowly.
Sitemap
Will they still use sitemap in 2021? SEO experts say that sitemaps are no longer mandatory for search engine indexing. However, in some cases they can help: if your website is complex, with lots of content, lots of pages, a sitemap can help search engine crawlers index some pages faster.
Keywords for SEO
Choosing keywords is an art. It’s not just about choosing simple, general keywords. For example, if you’re selling food processors, avoid short keywords like “food processor” and try using keyword groups with more detail: “multi-functional food processor, 5 speed settings. In general, chain keywords can form groups of 3-5 words. Try to use words specific to the product you are selling, focus on specifics.
This narrows down the range of search results. The more specific and particular your keywords are, the better your target audience is targeted.
Links
Links to your website are a traffic contributor. The more links you manage to distribute, the better the search engines will rank you. How do you do this? You can write articles or reviews for other sites in your field, promoting links to your page in your signature.
Images
Images have the greatest impact on the visitor when they first visit a website. Keep the following details in mind when adding pictures to your website content:
- the image title should be concise
- use unique images
- be careful with the size of images. Images that are too large slow down the loading speed of the site
- be aware of copyright and copyrights. There are platforms that provide images for free or for a fee. You don’t want to risk a lawsuit or a hefty fine
- use Alt Tag (text alternative of an image). It helps if your browser doesn’t load the image.
- make sure your images are optimised for phone access
- add images to your site map
Video content
Video presentations are enjoying increased popularity lately and have become an important marketing tool. Statistics show that video content brings more traffic from search engines than text content. As a result, a little effort in managing video content can benefit your website.
- choose carefully the pages on which you will display video content. For example, you can have a presentation of your company, or your team in the “About Us” section of your website.
- add video content in context: the titles should indicate as well as possible what the video is about. For example, you can add video material to the FAQ menu
- if the videos are hosted on another platform, don’t neglect the description part
- use as suggestive icons as possible for video presentations, so that users will be more tempted to access them
Responsive design
Almost half of the access
Nearly half of a website’s hits are from mobile phones or tablets. This means you need to adapt your website so that it is user friendly from any device.
Mobile and tablet optimizations will be of great help to users who prefer to browse this way.
Choose advanced programming languages, but don’t neglect the loading speed of your site (especially from mobile).
Avoid pop-ups on the mobile version. They are quite hard to remove if they are not wanted, visitors can lose interest quickly if they cannot close them.
Watch the size of the buttons: on phone or tablet, everything is small. Buttons that are too big or too small make it difficult to navigate the site.
Security
Don’t forget to secure your website with an SSL certificate. Search engines will submit your site to search results if you don’t have an SSL certificate. On the other hand, visitors generally avoid browsing or shopping on sites that are not secure. The investment is not very high for a standard certificate, and over time the results show.
Domain name for SEO
There are so many good domains to choose from, so many combinations! The most popular ones end with the country from which they are most often accessed, but you can avoid this cliché and choose a domain with the extension of your business domain. For example: yourdomain.coffee for a coffee shop, yourdomain.tech for an online shop with the latest technology products or services.
It may sound complicated, a lot to invest in terms of time and money, but the results are counted in traffic, internet visibility and of course, earnings.
