As much as 93 percent of internet experiences begin with a search. Think about how often you turn to your favorite search engine, whether it’s to find a hot new restaurant or to get the answer to your burning question. Right now, people are searching for answers to their questions. Are you ranking high enough for them to find you?
- Simply improving the overall user experience on your site can have a real impact on your rankings, including things like faster loading times, better backlinks, and designing for mobile users.
- Never be afraid to reuse and repurpose your content. You can even compile some of your content into a free downloadable guide that’s sure to bring in the traffic.
- Don’t forget your SEO basics. Rather than adding a ton of new techniques, become highly proficient at the basics and add maybe one or two new tricks at a time.
Using these 10 easy-to-do SEO tactics, you can boost your rankings and start getting the traffic you’re looking for.
Design For Mobile Users
It’s no secret we all love our phones. A huge amount of people are using their phones to perform their internet searches. To have a better chance of catching their attention, design your site with mobile users in mind. It’ll keep them on your site longer, meaning more impressions and better rankings.
Focus On Intention
As Google is evolving to better meet the needs of consumers, it’s starting to understand their intention rather than just focusing on the words they use in their searches. That’s why you have to think beyond just keywords now. Focus on the topic in general that will lead back to your site. When a user makes a search, you could pop up in the related search field.
Have A Backlink Portfolio
John Mueller, the Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, is quoted as saying “Links in particular are really important to Google because that’s how we discover the rest of your website.” And that’s why having a strong portfolio of backlinks is crucial. However, even more important than quantity is the quality of the backlinks you use. Choose links from older domains and high-quality content, rather than clickbait sites or newer sites.
Improve Loading Speeds
When you want the answer to something, speed matters. That’s why your site’s loading speed plays a direct role in your Google rankings. Those sites on the first page of a Google search result tend to load faster. To test your site’s speed, check out Google’s PageSpeed Insights. You can also useWebPageTest.org to see more specific reasons your site isn’t loading as fast as it could be.
Use Internal Links
Do you have a few pages that just aren’t performing as well? Try including internal backlinks to those pages in your other content. Typically there are only a few pieces of content on your site that are responsible for the majority of your traffic. You can maximize the impact of those pages and drive traffic deeper into your site by linking to your own less-popular pieces of content.
Rethink Your Keywords
Keywords are just as important as they have ever been. And now might be the time to revitalize your site’s keywords. Focus on high-commercial content keywords that will likely be popular. You should also be aware of brand new keywords, especially those that appear to quickly be trending. For another source of niche keywords, browse industry glossaries.
Repurpose Your Content
You work hard to create your content. Once it’s posted, does that mean you can’t reuse it? No! A great practice to adopt is repurposing your content, especially in different formats for different platforms. For example, if you write a long-form blog post, you can use an excerpt as a Facebook post or a memorable line as an Instagram post, along with a picture.
Give It Away
Everyone loves getting something for free. That’s why releasing free tools and downloads is a great way to boost traffic and ultimately improve your rankings. A great way to do this is to compile content you’ve already created into a more comprehensive guide. Then offer it as a free download to site visitors or to your email subscribers. It’s an easy way to repurpose your content for another purpose, saving you time and effort.
Use Visuals
The internet, and especially social media, is all about visuals. There are whole sites based on sharing visuals! Whether you use infographics, charts, photos, or a combination of them, adding visuals to your site improves the user experience, meaning your visitors will likely stay on your site longer and click around a bit more. You will also statistically be more likely to have your content shared more frequently.
Have Great Content
The better your content, the more likely it will be shared, linked to, and referenced. As it makes its way around the web, your traffic will increase. Meanwhile, your Google ranking will start to go up, leading to even more traffic. But it all starts with great content. Without that, you won’t have people coming back for more.
Conclusion
As tempting as it is to suddenly adopt a ton of new techniques and tricks, don’t do so if it will risk your SEO basics. Things like keywords, links, user experience, and content all matter. Sometimes the best thing you can do is go back to the basics and perfect those before adding anything new. That being said, try taking one of these suggestions and getting proficient at it before adding another.