Technology

What are the SEO Best Practices? How to Improve Your Google Ranking

With so many SEO factors affecting your website search engine rankings, you must use only the best promotional methods. Using the wrong and outdated strategies can negatively impact not only your ranking but also traffic and conversions.

In this section, we will share some best practices you can use to improve your website’s search engine optimization and stay ahead of the competition.

Long-tail keywords

Keyword research plays an important role in search engine optimization. It helps you determine what people are searching for on the Internet and how they are searching for it, and also shows you the keywords your competitors are ranking for.

Therefore, you need to know what SEO keyword research is and be able to do it effectively.

First, you need to understand the different types of keywords:

Basic query. The keyword that defines your topic and serves as the basis for the content is also called the core keyword. It can be a word like “coffee” or a search phrase like “what is SEO”.

Synonyms. Different words and phrases that have the same or similar meaning to the main query. For example, “how to fix broken headphones” can be replaced by “how to fix broken headphones”.

Long Tail Keywords. Longer search phrases that address a specific query. They usually consist of three or more keywords, for example, “gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe”. Long tail Keywords are one of the key factor for the Best Local SEO Services.

Semantically speaking. These keywords are conceptually related to each other. For example, the query “travel to Los Angeles” is semantically related to “airline tickets to Los Angeles” and “popular places in Los Angeles”.

The key to keyword SEO is to focus on popular keywords in your industry that have good traffic potential. This means being analytical when choosing keywords:

Search volume. A characteristic that indicates how many people use a certain search query in a certain period. Usually measured from data from a single country.

Keyword complexity. This metric, also called keyword competition, indicates how difficult it is to rank high in search results for a particular keyword.

Fortunately, these metrics can be easily checked using special SEO tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner. An example: you run a blog about web development. When researching potential keywords, you will find that there is a lot of competition for many of them.

If your blog is new and you choose a keyword like “create a website” or even “how to create a website” for your first posts, you have little chance of ranking well on Google. It is, therefore, preferable to start with long-range keywords like “how to create a website in HTML”.

Keywords with a high search volume attract more organic traffic but are also more competitive. In other words, using high search volume keywords means competing with reputable websites.

Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, are less competitive and allow you to create content that is relevant to your audience. Start driving traffic to your website with long-tail keywords and build your SEO strategy around them.

Match content to search intent

Search engine algorithms provide results based on search intent.

Google’s algorithm, for example, not only provides users with relevant answers to their search queries but can also determine search intent.

If a user searches for “how to connect a JBL Bluetooth speaker,” Google will provide a page or video with instructions.

On the other hand, for the query “buy a JBL Bluetooth speaker,” Google immediately displays online store pages.

Search engine algorithms set four main objectives for search:

Information search. Search to learn something. The most common triggers for this search are “how-to”, “what is” or “who is”.

Browsing search. Searching to visit specific websites. Rather than typing a URL into the address bar, users prefer to browse Google. Some examples of searches with this intent are “Join Reddit,” “Facebook,” “Spotify.”

Commercial. Users typically perform this search before making a purchase. They search and compare multiple brands, products, or services to find the best deal. A typical query for this search objective is “2021 gaming laptops” or “best restaurants near me”.

Transactional. Your search to purchase a specific product or service. Typical searches are brand names such as “buy Samsung Galaxy S20” or “buy Air Jordan Retro”.

For example, to appear in search results for the keyword “natural face wash” you need to create informative content. Focus on answering potential questions about the topic. Write about the benefits of natural products, skincare tips, or do-it-yourself natural facials. However, this search term is different from “best webcams for streaming.” Users with this intention only want to compare the best cameras before buying. Therefore, this search term has a commercial intent.

In summary, the best SEO practice is to match your content to different types of intent. In other words, define what your users want and give them the answers.

Target keyword in the title tag

The title tag is crucial for your website. It gives users an idea of the content and helps them understand if the page matches their search queries.

Users mainly visit web pages that contain keywords relevant to their search. That’s why Google strongly recommends using good page titles and descriptions.

If you optimize your Meta tags with a targeted keyword, it gives the search engine the ability to find your site faster, understand what it is about and rank it at the appropriate position in the search.

For example, the first results for “how to work from home” contain a specific target keyword.

The most important thing is to put the most important keyword at the beginning of the title. This not only attracts the attention of users but also helps search engines to determine the content of the page.

However, make sure that the keyword sounds natural and is not used too often.

In addition to the Meta title, it is also important to create a meta description. Include the subject of the page and invite people to follow the link.

Some SEO tips: The description should be about 150 characters long, use active language, and call to action.

If you are using WordPress, install the Yoast SEO plugin. It provides guidelines for creating meta tags as well as an editor for these elements that lets you see how the page will appear on Google.

Another useful tool, the SERP Simulator, helps you create the right-sized title and meta description.

Authoritative backlinks

Authoritative backlinks are links from reputable websites. Google’s algorithm considers backlinks as a vote of confidence in your website and takes into account the authority of the source domain to validate them. Digital Marketing Agency is responsible to create authority backlinks from relevant niche website.

It is better to have an adequate amount of reputable backlinks than an excessive number of links from low-quality spam sites.

Quality backlinks boost SEO, while poor quality inbound links can damage your website’s credibility.

Here are some SEO tips for getting quality inbound links to your website:

Write quality content. Informative and consistent content helps other websites see you as an expert and decide whether to link to your site.

Guest blogging. This involves writing blog posts for other websites. In return, you have the opportunity to add backlinks to an article or column about the author. In addition, this practice increases your brand awareness and allows you to reach a wider audience by generating more organic traffic to your website.

Analyze your competitors’ backlinks. By monitoring your competitors, you can spot websites that could potentially link to your site. You can track external links using tools such as Monitor Backlinks and Ahrefs Link Intersect. Go to the websites that link to your competitor and make your offer.

Rebuild broken links. This method of link building involves finding websites that link to pages with 404 errors. When you find a broken link, write to the owner of the resource and offer to replace it with an appropriate link to a page on your site. You can use Ahrefs Broken Link Checker to find and identify broken links on the web.

Why SEO is necessary

Organic search, which accounts for about 53.3% of all website traffic, has become an important part of online marketing. Organic traffic allows you to convert visitors into buyers or customers for your business.

However, attracting organic traffic to a website is not easy, and that’s where SEO comes in. With search engine optimization, you can optimize different parts of your website and page according to the criteria of the ever-changing search algorithms. SEO offers a range of strategies to increase a website’s visibility in search engines. The higher your website is placed in the search results, the more visitors it gets. SEO can increase brand awareness and perhaps even increase sales and revenue, especially if it is a commercial website.

In addition, Google’s algorithm takes many SEO factors into account when evaluating and determining a website’s position in searches. If your website manages to rank well in the search engine results pages, it can help build trust in your brand or business.

Conclusions

In this article, you have learned a lot about SEO. Among other things, what SEO is and how search engines work. Search engine optimization involves many factors and practices. SEO strategies are constantly evolving to keep up with search engine algorithms.

SEO is an important tool to promote your website in search engines. A website with well-implemented search engine optimization has an excellent chance of appearing at the top of search results and increasing traffic. To ensure you are following the best SEO practices, remember the four main types of SEO:

Internal SEO. Focuses on the content-related elements of your web pages, including image alt text, meta title, and meta description.

External SEO. Includes activities outside the website, such as inbound link building, working with influencers, and guest posting.

Technical SEO. Covers the technical aspects of SEO: Optimizing the speed, compatibility, security, and usability of your website.

Local SEO. SEO strategies to improve your website’s visibility in local searches and increase local traffic.

Now that you know what SEO is and how it works, you understand why it is important. However, search engine optimization is an ongoing process. The more you learn about this method of advertising, the more you will be convinced that it takes a lot of work to reach the top position in searches.

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