These secrets of search engine optimization will help your small business capture the attention of your target market. Used consistently, these tips will increase engagement, leads, and sales.
Place your user first
Write for your website visitor first, search engines second
You could stuff your content full of keywords and keyword phrases. In the process, you would insult your visitor’s intelligence and miss the opportunity to provide high-quality, useful information. Use keywords wisely, making sure they truly fit the content of your page so viewers are not disappointed.
Make sure your website loads quickly
Page speed matters to Google and will affect your website’s ranking. We explained this in “Google’s Core Web Vitals As Ranking Values.”
Ensure your site is easy to navigate and mobile-friendly
We can’t say this often enough. Your website needs to work well for smartphone users as well as those on desktops, laptops, and tablets. We explained what makes a web site easy to navigate in our post “What Is Web Design?”
Fix broken links
Broken links not only frustrate your viewer, they cause search engines to rank your site poorly.
Put your best foot forward
Create high-quality content
You get mere seconds to make a good first impression online. By consistently sharing high-quality content that is helpful to your target audience, you are building good will.
Provide your unique solution to real problems
Answer questions. Provide ebooks, how-to videos, infographics, pictures, tutorials, and white papers that offer step-by-step solutions.
Choose long-tail keywords that address real needs
Mention your unique product or service as well as your location. For example, long-tail key words would be “Chester County web design” instead of “web site” or “greater Philadelphia area Internet marketing firm” instead of “marketing.”
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Create different kinds of content
Start by understanding what kind of content your target market prefers—audio, video, text—and then offer your high-quality information in their favorite format and a variety of others, too. A YouTube video tutorial keeps your viewers engaged, which improves your search engine ranking. However, some people prefer the speed of reading. You could create a written transcript for a video or podcast or condense statistics from a written report into an easy-to-read infographic. Each piece of content would get its own search engine optimization.
Post on multiple platforms
Consistently add fresh content to your web site, your blog, your email newsletter, and the social media platforms where your target audience spends their time. Make sure to optimize for search engines.
Add SEO in these hidden places
Include keywords and keyword phrases within the written content on your web pages. On each page, add the same keywords you use in the text to as many of these places as naturally possible: alt tags of images, calls to action, headings, meta descriptions, page titles, and the page URL.
Use a variety of keywords in the right context
Try niche words for your target market as well as the keywords that are the more obvious and popular choices. A user will use different words for a preliminary search and for an in-depth search once they have decided to make a purchase.
Plan ahead
Use analytics to measure the success of your SEO
By using analytics, you can determine which keywords and content are working best for you.
Publish and tweak over time
Update content and its corresponding SEO to meet the needs of your target audience. Data and facts may change over time. Don’t be afraid to remove content that is outdated or no longer working for you. Too much useless information only slows down your page load speed and hinders your user experience.
Republish
Find ways to breathe new life into older content. Fresh images, updated blog posts, transcribed videos and podcasts, and new infographics all merit their own search engine optimization.
Call Tate Design at 610.725.0702 or e-mail [email protected] to implement these secrets of search engine optimization.
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