Search engine optimization ( SEO) determines how high a website ranks in common search engines like Google. Whatever type of business you run, whether it’s a communications consultancy or a cake shop, an effective SEO strategy is a smart way to boost visibility online, attract new clients, grow your business — and boost profits.
To do so, you’ll need to work on your SEO rankings. This helps your website become more visible to potential customers and allows you to appear on search results for specific queries relevant to your business.
In this guide, we’re going to highlight the essential strategies and ways to improve your SEO ranking. Read on to see some of the recommendations we have compiled for you.
1. High-Quality Content
High-quality content is at the core of SEO success. To attract search engines, you need to populate your website with content.
To start, ensure every page includes at least 300 words of original content. Search engines can detect duplicate content and may penalize your page for using copied content. Content should be broken into shorter chunks, for instance, with H2 subheadings, so it’s easy to scan.
Above all, content should meet Google’s EAT criteria: expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google introduced this terminology in 2018. EAT is particularly critical for sensitive topic matters, such as health care, science, and law.
Factors that boost an EAT score include citing respected experts (e.g., if you run a health care website, refer to medical professionals) and referring to reliable sources (such as “.edu” or “.gov” sites).
2. On-Page SEO
Content doesn’t just need to be high-quality. It also needs to be optimized for search engines. How do you do that? You can start with this basic checklist for on-page SEO:
- Choose one primary keyword for the page and three to four related keywords.
- Include the primary keyword in your URL.
- Ensure your title tag, meta description, and H1 include your primary keyword.
- Content should be high-quality and written for an eighth-grade reading level.
- Vary content structure to make it scannable (e.g., use H2s and H3s effectively with bullet lists).
- Make sure internal links use effective anchor text.
- Include at least one image.
From there, you’ll want to dive into more specifics. Keywords are critical. Every page should be optimized for one unique keyword. You should also include a title that will attract readers in the form of an H1 tag. This indicates to the search engine that this text is the page title and what the page is about. – Read more
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