The Basics for Successful SEO

Search engine optimization can be a difficult strategy to understand, but it plays a crucial role in attracting more viewers to your content. At its core, SEO helps improve the position that your content appears on a search engine, ultimately increasing site traffic and sales.

75% of online searchers won’t scroll past the first page of results, so ensuring that your content is at the top of the search list is the first step to beating out competitors. These tools will help you incorporate SEO into your content and will lead to search engines finding your content most relevant for users.

SEO Key Words and Phrases Matter

When crafting your content, try to imagine what users would search for when typing on a search engine. For example, if a user searches for “best budgeting apps,” the articles closer to the top of the results will most likely include “budgeting” or “budgeting apps” in the article. As you figure out what your target audience is looking for, this list of keywords will continue to grow. The more relevant and useful keywords that you use in an article, the higher your ranking will be on the search results.

Prior to posting your content, resources like WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool and Ubersuggest show the usefulness of each keyword. These websites give insight into how effective each word will be in increasing SEO, giving you the chance to maximize your content before publishing.

Remember To EAT

EAT (Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness) refers to Google’s method of measuring brand reputation and reliability and determines how high a website will appear on the results page. Companies with a higher level of EAT are viewed as having more authentic and usable content for searchers. In order to have higher organic search engine visibility, utilize these aspects to secure a higher EAT level.

1. Frequently update website information and content: Outdated information won’t be as usable to users when there is current information available elsewhere. Each day, there are over four million blogs posted, so updated information is the key to staying relevant.
2. Allow clients to leave reviews online: Positive reviews left by users will increase how Google perceives the brand’s trustworthiness and expertise. Responding to reviews can also show that the company appreciates feedback from customers.
3. Highlight your professionals: Content produced by professionals or experts should be highlighted on a company’s website. Any awards, certifications, or educational achievements should be noted in order to improve a company’s credibility.

Balance User Experience and SEO

User experience continues to play an increasingly important role in modern SEO. Google takes into consideration the amount of time users spend on different websites, the time to complete actions, and of course the overall structure of the pages and website. Websites that are harder to use or navigate will be seen by Google as being less useful for searchers. When considering user experience, businesses should consider the following factors:

Page speed: Ensure that users aren’t having to wait for your website to load. Researchers found that even just 5 seconds of loading time will increase bounce rates by 20%.

Mobile use: Over 60% of Google’s organic search traffic comes from mobile devices, so ensuring that content is accessible and easy to navigate during mobile use is crucial to maximizing site traffic.

404s: 404 errors are another sure-fire way to drive users to another website. It not only impacts the user experience but also the credibility of your website as a whole. To prevent this easily, your internal links can be checked online for free.

Integrating keywords into your content, ensuring site information is up-to-date, and maximizing user experience are SEO basics that give your site a competitive edge. Use these tactics to ensure that your site won’t be lost in the search results.

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