We all have heard about SEO and its benefits. But do you actually know what it is and why you should incorporate its features on your website?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a set of best practices to help improve the ranking of your website on a search engine’s results page (SERP). In other words, practices that make your website appear top on Google Search.
SEO involves using common keywords that web users search for when using search engines, as well as linking to other websites and social media channels. All these practices increase the relevance of your website to search engines, which helps your content, product or service climb in the rankings and ultimately drives more traffic to your site.
For websites, SEO is something that requires consistent attention as part of your overall strategy. We’ve listed 5 best practices to ensure your website is on track to rank and deliver results.
According to Semrush, marketers who use keyword research in their SEO strategy see 67% more leads compared to their competitors who do not. Search Engines rely on keywords to determine what is and isn’t relevant to a web users search.
To optimise your website, you should identify and incorporate keywords that are relevant to the topic of your page. Google’s Keyword Tool is one of the many resources where you can look up a keyword’s average monthly searches, relevance, and competitiveness as well as similar keywords.
Did you know that 80% of web users don’t read beyond the headline? So, it’s extremely important to create a compelling title tag. Title Tags are clickable links that appear on the SERP. Try to keep your headline between 50-60 characters as this allows the entire title to fit on a search page. You’ll also want to incorporate top keyword phrases you’ve used throughout your website’s page in the headline to increase its relevance.
Page load time greatly impacts your website when ranking on Google Searches. Your website needs to be fast enough for your visitors to avoid an increased bounce rate and provide the best user experience. No one wants to wait too long for a page to load!
In a Google Webmaster video, about the Site Performance, the average of a good page load if between 1-2 seconds.
Image optimisation involves creating and delivering high-quality images in the ideal format, size, and resolution to increase user engagement. It also involves accurately labelling images with alt-text so that search engine crawlers can understand the context of the image.
Even more importantly, Google wants your images. Apps and search engines are upping the image recognition game with visual search elements and in-SERP snippets. In other words, images can generate organic traffic to your website if you add the correct captions and titles, using your top keywords along with alt text and credit your sources.
Don’t throw links into your website just because they’re somewhat relevant. Google wants to see high-quality links on your website because it proves you’ve done your research and including links relevant to your website’s content.
Don’t wait too long to start ranking on search engines. Get in touch with our SEO Expert Team and discuss how we can move your brand forward.
Written by Thiago Feliciano