Search engine optimization (SEO) can be an unwieldy beast. There is much debate over what’s the best strategy to get your website ranking on the first page of search results and it can be so confusing. You can get bogged down with such questions as “Is long-form or short-form content more effective?” and “How many keywords are too many keywords?” and “Am I guilty of keyword stuffing?” It is all a bit baffling, so we at Jubilant Web have decided to take it right back to basics and give you an SEO refresher course that tackles the basics.
Here are three important pieces of advice that will help you get your head around the basics of SEO. This first article in the SEO “Back to basics” series will focus on creating quality content for your website. Later in the SEO seminar series, we will focus on how you can optimize your search rankings using external connections (i.e. back linking; press releases; media coverage).
Use the right keywords
You may be a writing genius on par with Shakespeare and get great rankings for your chosen keywords, but if those same keywords are rarely searched by your target market then you’re in trouble (because no one will find your brilliant content in the first place).
In order to be on top of your SEO game, you need to do thorough keyword research. Start by using Google’s Keyword Planner tool. Get ideas for new keywords and check how often people are searching your keywords in specific areas (you can narrow the location down from countries to states, counties, and even cities).
Even if you’ve got a solid keyword plan already in place, it’s a good idea to regularly check back with Google’s Keyword Planner tool to see if there are new keywords for your industry that are increasing in frequency.
Make your website look its best
Before you go all out and worry about the dramas of external SEO (social media; press releases; quality backlinks), it is imperative that you get the content on your site looking its best. After all, if you manage to get visitors to your site from your hard slog with SEO, then you’ll want them to stay.
In order for visitors to stay rather than bouncing back, you’ll need relevant and informative content that tells them exactly what they want to know. The information on your homepage should be concise and tell the visitor a clear and compelling message about your company, service, or product.
From the homepage, you can enable visitors to link to more comprehensive information. However, let them do it at their own prompting. They should be able to browse your uncomplicated and highly readable (i.e. not confusing, intimidating, or tiresome) homepage and easily find the more in-depth information they are after. It’s all about user experience and providing the right information in the right order (i.e. not all at once).
For more help with writing a quality blog to keep your website content fresh and relevant, check out our 7 tips for improving your blog posts.
Post a variety of quality content and become a resource
Answer your audience’s questions and be a leader in your industry by keeping up to date with developments in your field of work.
If you know a lot about your industry, you’ll have a lot to say. Turn that knowledge into different types of content on your site, from blog posts (the most basic), to videos (search engines love these), podcasts, PDFs, how-to guides (heck, I love these), and infographics. Infographics, in particular, are all the rage at the moment; everybody from The Guardian to your local arts and crafts store is using them.
To get you started on your quest to create quality infographics, check out Piktochart.
So there you have it; a not-so-confusing-after-all approach to SEO New York. We hope you enjoyed it. If you’re too busy maintaining your thriving business, then you can always call Jubilant Web today on 888 452 7950 and we can do the work for you. We’re the best SEO New York company. We’re champions of SEO and optimizing your website to achieve visibility and outstanding results.
