Have you ever wondered how you can improve your website’s ranking on Google? If yes, you’re at the right place.
In this post, we’ll discuss how you can create an effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategy—one that’s liked by both Google and users.
A good SEO strategy focuses on all three types of SEO. These are:
- On-page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Off-page SEO
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to the practice of optimizing individual web pages to rank them higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). On-page SEO basically relates to the content on your site.
Main benefits of on-page SEO are:
- Improved rank in SERPs
- More organic Traffic
- Improved local search
- Better conversion rate
On-page SEO has three main components:
- Keyword Research
Keywords are words or phrases that people use to search for information on search engines. If you want to see your website in top searches on Google or any search engine, target relevant keywords. By relevant keywords, these refer to your potential customers most frequently use words or phrases to search for information related to your business.
For instance, if you run a yoga studio in Melbourne, Florida, relevant keywords for you will be:
- Yoga for weight loss
- Benefits of yoga
- Yoga for women
- Best yoga studio in Melbourne, FL
The last keyword is an example of a local-based keyword, which is related to your business’ location. It’s important you include such keywords in your strategy because local SEO, when done correctly, results in high conversion. For instance, 72% of people who do a local search visit a store if it’s within their five-mile radius.
You can find relevant keywords in your niche using online tools such as:
- Aherfs
- Moz
- SEMrush
- Google Search
- SpyFu
- Content Creation
Publishing high-quality content focused on target keywords is one of the best ways to improve SEO. However, remember, the buzzword here is ‘high-quality.’ So, focus on creating content that offers value to your readers.
- Keyword Optimization
Keyword optimization refers to using your niche keywords in the right places and in the right manner.
Time-tested strategies for keyword optimization are:
- Using the keyword in the title
- Including the keyword in your meta description (an HTML attribute providing a brief summary of a web page)
- Naturally using the main keyword a few times in the content
- Naturally including LSI keywords (words and phrases semantically related to a topic) in the content
Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to non-technical elements of a website. It includes strategies that help improve your website’s backend structure.
Technical SEO makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your web pages and user to navigate from one page to another. A good user experience, in turn, improves overall site traffic, reduces bounce rate, and boosts conversion. Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors that leave your website after opening only one page.
Technical SEO includes the following components:
- Website Speed
- Indexing
- Crawling
- Mobile-friendliness
- Structured data
- Site architecture
- Site security
Off-page SEO
Off-page SEO includes everything that you do outside your site to boost its ranking on search engines. It basically demonstrates to Google that your website is important and valuable, hence it should be ranked high.
Off-page SEO is all about gaining links from other websites. However, not all links are created equally. Some links are considered more valuable than others, such as:
- Links from websites that are trusted by users, industry experts, and other websites, such as Forbes, wikiHow, and Medium.
- Links from web pages that are relevant to your content and brand industry
- Links having anchor text that closely matches your content
So, how can you get quality backlinks? Here’re two time-tested strategies to gain high-quality links:
- Guest Blogging: This is one of the best ways to improve SEO. By publishing quality content on established websites, you can boost your reputation, get more exposure for your brand, and build high-quality backlinks.
- Help your target audience on various online forums: To win the trust of your audience, help people with their problems on various online forums, such as Quora and Reddit.
Remember though, the idea is to help others, not promote your brand blatantly. If answering questions means including the name of your brand, that’s great. If it doesn’t, that’s fine as well. Don’t forcefully insert your brand’s name in your response.
Final Words
Every online business does SEO to some degree, but only a few do it the right way. If you want to improve your site’s rank on SERPs, make sure your SEO strategy incorporates all the above-mentioned SEO types.