Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, is one of the best ways to improve your website’s visibility. Unlike paid advertising, SEO helps you organically climb through Google’s search results. That said, you can’t pay to get these results. The only way to rank your content higher on Google with SEO is to put in a lot of hours. We understand that it may be overwhelming, particularly if you are just starting. But don’t worry because we have your back. Follow our simple guide, and you can make it happen quickly.
SEO and Content Plan
Let’s start at the beginning. The first step to a successful SEO website is understanding your business better. That means you have to identify the best keywords for your brand. These keywords will help you create high-quality content that will make your website more visible on Google.
Let’s take as an example the competitive gambling industry, where succeeding requires a lot of time and leading SEO practices. If you want to list the topflight online casinos, you need to communicate this clearly to your readers. Also, everything needs to be understandable to Google bots. Providing a listing isn’t the same as reviewing a single gambling destination or explaining the gambling regulations in a specific country.
You’ll need different strategies and approaches for each page while keeping the big picture in mind. Ideally, your website should appear when someone is looking for the best gambling brands if you’re providing listings. By contrast, if you’re offering guides, they should appear when someone is looking for learning materials and how-to articles.
The next step is to research your target audience. Once you know the most relevant keywords for your brand, you can start writing the topics your audience wishes to hear most. That is how you build better relationships with them and keep their interest high in your brand.
Last but not least, you have to analyze your competition. We recommend conducting thorough research of all websites that show up as the top results on Google for your most relevant keywords. These are your fiercest competitors. That is why you have to learn everything you can about them, including the number of daily posts they publish. The more you know, the better strategy you can make to surpass their rankings.
On-Site SEO
At this point, you already have all the data you need to start writing. But, before hitting the keyboard, you have to keep in mind the most critical element of SEO – relevance. You must have relevant content to produce high-quality articles that will grow your business organically on Google. You can’t just place certain keywords on specific locations in your articles and expect to get the number one spot on Google results.
To create high-quality pages, you must consider several critical criteria, such as in-depth researched topics, easily readable articles, and 100% unique content. We also recommend building trust with your audience by presenting them with reliable and fact-checked information.
Off-Site SEO
Once your content is ready and published, it’s time to focus on the next step. And we have to admit that this is a tricky one. To ensure that your website will grow in popularity, you must have other sites, pages, or people promoting or linking your content. The more links to your website, the more Google will see that people are confirming the quality of your content. Consequently, it will rank you higher on search engines.
Optimize for Mobile Use
More and more people are leaving their desktops and moving to their mobile devices for internet use. That can be proven by the latest data showing that almost 53% of all web visits are now coming from mobile devices. Desktop views currently stand at 47.21%, but they are continuously dropping.
That is why it is critical to optimize your website for mobile use. In other words, you have to ensure that regardless of the screen size, your content will be seen properly and clearly by your audience. You also want to ensure that your mobile version website will be fast. In fact, if it’s not loading in less than 2.5 seconds, the chances are that people won’t stick around for it to open. That’s how you lose your audience.
Lastly, we recommend simplifying the navigation menu. That might even mean choosing a completely different design if the desktop version menu feels too complicated in the mobile version. Our research showed us that the best style for mobile at the moment is the hamburger menu because it looks big enough to be easily tapped on and doesn’t take up a lot of space.
Keep Site Healthy and Content Fresh
Needless to say, you should regularly publish new content. That said, you should also ensure that your content is accurate and up to date. Wrong or misleading information and outdated information can hurt your brand’s credibility and create problems for your company and customers.
Lastly, it would be best to keep up with the latest updates and plugins, download the most recent security patches, and ensure that all bugs are promptly fixed. That is the best way to ensure a pleasant user experience while at the same time building a long-lasting relationship with your audience.
