Did you know there are more than 1.9 billion websites online? If you want to compete with that, you need to understand how to improve website SEO (search engine optimization).
Then, you won’t have to constantly share links to your website to get traffic. You can get more traffic by answering questions and solving problems for people.
Here’s how you can work on your SEO.
Choose a Niche
One of the first things you can do to help with search engine rankings is to select a niche. Niching down allows you to focus on one type of reader or customer, so you can target your content just for them.
For example, maybe you want to start a recipe blog. Instead of making in general, you can create a blog for gluten-free recipes or recipes that people can follow in 30 minutes.
The gluten-free blog can attract people who have to follow a specific diet. On the other hand, a 30-minute recipe is great for busy adults or working parents.
Focus on the Mobile Design
As you design your site, another step for how to improve website SEO is to improve the mobile design. It can be easy to focus on the desktop version, but the mobile site is just as important.
Many people use mobile devices to browse the internet and social media. If someone comes across your site that way, you want the site to work well for them.
You should be able to create a custom version for mobile users in your website design platform. Then, you can make sure the site looks good and is easy to use regardless of the screen size.
Good site design involves a simple look that’s easy to navigate. Keep that in mind particularly, for your mobile version.
Research Keywords
When working on search engine optimization, you should do some keyword research. This is where you use a tool such as the Google Keyword Planner to look at different search terms.
You can see roughly how many people search for a specific term in an average month. Keyword research tools can also tell you how competitive a particular term is.
As you brainstorm content ideas, research potential keywords. Look for keywords that have a good search volume of about 100 views or more, but avoid highly competitive terms since those can be harder to rank for.
Add Keywords Appropriately
Once you find the keywords to use in your content, use them strategically. You should stick to one main keyword per blog post or page to avoid confusion for users and search engines.
Add your main keyword to the introduction of the article or page. Include it in the conclusion as well as in one of the headers to help search engines learn what the content is about.
If you use any images, add the keyword to the alt text of the image, which you can adjust in your settings. You can also add the keyword to your meta description.
Consider similar terms to add to help search engines learn about your content. For example, you may mention “piano lessons” in a post with the keyword “how to play the piano.”
Write Quality Content
Now, you’re ready to start writing posts or pages to add to your site. When you do this, you want to make sure the writing is of good quality and is easy to read.
Keep the paragraphs short, and add things like:
- Bullet lists
- Images
- Graphics
All of those things can keep from having big walls of text that can bore readers. The easier your posts are to read, the more attention they’ll get.
That tells search engines that your content is worth reading, so you can rank higher. On the other hand, text that’s hard to read may cause you to drop in the search engine rankings.
Publish Consistently
Another option for how to improve website SEO is to publish new content consistently. You don’t need to post every day, but one new blog post per week is a good goal.
This can help tell search engines that your website is active. While it may take a while for your new posts to rank, you can keep adding to your archives.
After a few months, older posts may start to show up in search results. Then, you can get more website traffic overall, and your newer posts may eventually rank in search as well.
Link to Other Pages
Once you have a few website pages and posts up, include links within your site. Using the piano post example, you might link to your piano lessons service page from a post about how to play.
A gluten-free recipe blog may include links from each recipe to where to buy gluten-free ingredients. Including internal links can keep people on your site, telling search engines you have valuable content.
You may also want to use external links to other websites. For example, a piano teacher could link to a statistic or study from an educational journal to help build authority without sending readers to a competitor.
Get Backlinks From Other Websites
While you can link to other websites, you should also aim to get other websites to link to your site. This refers to backlinks, and you can get them in a few ways.
The quickest way to get backlinks is to pitch guest blog posts on websites in your niche. However, as your own site builds trust and authority, people may link to your site without you asking.
Keep an eye on your analytics to see where you’re getting clicks from. Then, you can ask similar websites for backlinks to build more traffic.
Just make sure that you avoid links from spammy sites. Those backlinks may do more harm than good for your SEO.
Learning How to Improve Website SEO Is Easy
If you want your website to be successful, you need to know how to improve website SEO. That way, you can climb up the search engine ranks to get more organic traffic.
Be sure to choose a niche and some relevant keywords. Write good content consistently, and watch as the traffic slowly rolls in.
Do you need help with SEO and other marketing strategies? Learn more about our digital marketing services.
