Things You Need to Do for a Great SEO Ranking
Organic search results are one of the most important online marketing channels you have at your disposal today—which is why you need to consider search engine optimization (SEO) to take your brand to the next level.
If you haven’t thought about it much yet, it’s time. Your organization needs SEO.
No matter the size of your business, you can benefit from SEO. In fact, 53 percent of all web traffic comes from search engines. Still not sold? The top-ranked result on a search engine results page (SERP) gets a lot of traffic. On a desktop computer, the first result on a SERP has an organic click-through rate of 32 percent.
That’s essentially a one-in-three chance.
Here are some meaningful steps you can take to boost your SEO ranking.
Conduct an Audit to Analyze Your Industry and Keywords
Creating SEO-based content is all about writing topics that are of interest to your target audience. Who do you want to reach—and what do you want to say to them?
An industry-based keyword audit can help you select the phrases and keywords your potential future customers will use to search for web pages on those topics. An audit will help you understand which target keywords are relevant to your organization. Additionally, they can help you set realistic, achievable goals for your website.
Are you using the right keywords? Will they connect you with your audience or are they too competitive? Too hyper-focused on keyword volume? You don’t want to simply choose words based on the highest search volume; they may be too general and not well-suited to your specific line of work. An SEO-based keyword audit will give you information about the status of your website and where you need to go from there to maximize your keyword potential.
Utilize Google Search Console
How can you optimize your content for search analytics? And how can you measure your site’s search traffic so your page reaches the top of the list for Google’s search results?
Google Search Console is a great tool to check which search words on your site are already ranking and just how well they are performing.
This intuitive tool offers data to monitor your website and improve search rankings within Google; it’s the only tool available to do so. The tool provides a metrics overview pertaining to two things:
Your site’s search performance
Your site’s overall user experience
This will help you make targeted improvements to your site and get more traffic. It also offers reports on security issues and vulnerabilities.
Make the Most of Google Analytics
Google Analytics is another tool that can give you a great deal of information about your site’s SEO and how it is performing. It’s a web analytics service available at no cost to anyone with a Google account.
So, how does Google Analytics work? It tracks performance over your entire website, collecting analytics about visitors as it goes. It can be very useful in pinpointing the most common sources of user traffic and help you understand how marketing campaigns are performing and oversee “goal completions–” things like customers making a product, contacting you for a consultation, or adding products to your cart.
Ultimately, Google Analytics can be helpful to spot trends in how users engage with your site. It can even track user demographics and customer behavior.
Not only is this helpful in refining your marketing campaigns, but it can point you in the right direction when it comes to SEO.
Give Keyword Tracking a Go
Keyword tracking is a foundational tool to make the most of your SEO strategy. You can use certain keyword tracking tools to monitor keywords for their performance continually.
Why is this important? Many organizations who invest in their SEO are concerned about two things: Their rankings and their return on investment.
However, the scope of SEO keywords is so much bigger than just rankings and revenue. It’s a holistic way to generate business organically—and monitoring the progression of keyword rankings can help your organization “connect the dots” between organic online traffic and actual conversions, according to the Search Engine Journal.
Keyword tracking involves taking a look at certain metrics, which include:
Visibility
Position on a results page
Monthly search volume
Which pages are ranking for each keyword
By gaining a deeper understanding of which keywords are performing and how they are helping you, you can deepen your SEO strategy.
Implement Optimized Keywords and Consider On-Page SEO
SEO is all about improving your search visibility, which means that to make it happen, you need to have the right content on your site. On-page SEO is all about fine-tuning everything on each page (or blog) of your site, including the content, tags, and internal links, all with the goal of boosting your ranking on a results page to get you noticed by the right audiences.
HubSpot refers to on-page SEO as “saying something to a search engine” so your individual web pages rank towards the top of the search engine results page. Once you have an SEO keyword audit in hand, you can take important steps on the page to capture the attention of search engine algorithms. This includes taking actions like:
Naturally adding important keywords throughout the page, titles, subheadings, meta-descriptions, photo descriptions and alt-text, and the content itself.
Including keywords in the URL for each page to help search engine algorithms understand what the page is about.
The most important thing here is to act normal. For a time, organizations could improve their SEO ranking by hiding keywords in the background of the page or “keyword stuffing” content. But not only is this not helpful for your audiences, but the search engine algorithms will also most likely penalize you for these deceptions, resulting in a lower ranking.
Backend Optimization: Don’t Forget About Off-Page SEO
The backend of your website is just as important as your on-page SEO. For starters, backend optimization (also commonly called off-page optimization) helps search engines understand what your website is all about.
These backend components aren’t visible to your site visitors, but search engines, crawlers, and bots use them to crawl your site and index what’s there.
Setting up a strongly-optimized backend for your website is critical. Without the backend of your site, the front end is irrelevant to algorithms that may otherwise suggest your site as a great fit for a prospective lead’s query. It also:
Details your site’s purpose, intentions, and priorities
Provides a roadmap for different categories, products, and images
How can you optimize the backend of your site? For starters, ensure that your sitemap and console are both error-free. You’ll also want to include meta-information like title tags, meta descriptions, alt tags, and structured data.
Capitalize on Backlinking Optimization
External backlinks refer to all the times when other sites and organizations link to your website. There are so many opportunities for backlinking from blog posts to service pages; they can be anywhere on another website.
Backlinks that are authentic, meaningful, and high value can significantly boost SEO and add credibility to your website. If on-page SEO is all about what your site says to search engines, off-page SEO is the opposite. It’s what other sites are saying about you.
The purpose of link building is to get other websites to link to your site. Neil Patel describes this whole process as a popularity contest—and each external link to your site is like a vote saying that your site deserves a higher ranking. Think of it from the perspective of a search engine algorithm: The more times websites credit you or refer to your organization, the more credible you seem, and the more likely you are to be a great reference on a search results page.
How can you improve your off-page SEO? Here are a few ideas:
Writing guest blogs to popular sites in your industry
Connecting with partner brands and asking them to link to your site
Creating local search and social media profiles
Submitting your site to industry databases and directories, or purchasing ads in these spaces
Publishing link-worthy content like eye-catching infographics or noteworthy think pieces
Examine Meta Descriptions and Meta Titles
Your site’s meta descriptions and titles tell potential customers—and search engines—what your web pages are all about. But search engines like Google have high expectations for meta descriptions and titles. And if they aren’t executed well? Google will rewrite these meta titles and descriptions on your behalf.
Here’s a staggering fact: Google rewrites site meta descriptions 62.78 percent of the time.
But the issue here is that if a search engine rewrites your titles or descriptions, you could miss opportunities to connect with your target audience via critical keywords.
Think of a meta description as an invitation to visit your website. You want to use it to entice your reader to click on your site on a results page—and trigger certain keywords. Keep your meta titles and descriptions short, detailed, and captivating, and consider auditing them before you publish.
Examine Your Overall User Experience
Search engines are getting pretty sophisticated—and your site’s user experience is a major part of today’s SEO algorithm.
But it’s not just SEO that’s impacted by user experience (UX); 73 percent of customers share that UX impacts their purchasing decisions. So, if your UX isn’t great, your SEO could start to plummet. What’s more, it’s also important for your organization’s success.
There’s a lot that goes into UX and how visitors perceive your website. This includes factors like:
Design
Usability
Load time
Before you get too deep into auditing your user experience, look at some of the simple things you can do first. Do the colors and tones of your website match your branding? Is it clear, easy to read, and screen-friendly? Do headlines capture attention quickly? Are clickable links simple to spot? Is there a good balance of text and images? Can users find significant pages on your site? Are forms workable and submittable?
Consult with Professionals
While these are all important steps to take, the most important thing you can do to boost your SEO is to work with professionals who know what they’re doing and can guide you through the process.
At JAW Dropping Designs, we’re dedicated to helping our clients improve every element of their websites. We know that SEO is a critical part of inbound marketing and bringing in new leads. It also creates a more inviting site for your potential clients and customers.
If you’re ready to take action and boost your ranking on search results pages, connect with us today. Schedule an SEO Audit Consultation today to learn more!
