Modern business relies on search engine optimization (SEO). If you sell online, you can’t grow your customer base if you’re on page 7. Studies have shown the importance of SEO, and here are some facts to back it up:
- Search engines drive up to 93 percent of all traffic.
- 7.5% never go past the first page of search results.
- Improving SEO and organic presence is the top inbound marketing priority for over 60% of marketers.
- The first organic search result on Google has a 32% clickthrough rate.
With these facts in mind, the question isn’t should you create a good SEO strategy for your website, but how to do it most effectively. Following are basic SEO principles to increase website traffic.
1. Title Tags
The second element of SEO to consider is title tags, because search engine algorithms analyze headlines to determine the subject and rank it among similar posts. Keywords are crucial in this regard.
Each title should contain a keyword near the start to help Google understand the content. You can also include a brand name in a title to help potential readers identify the author.
Headlines should also be compelling, i.e. pique user interest. A good title encourages people to interact with your content. If you’re unsure, use online tools like CoSchedule Headline Analyzer. This app evaluates your title’s overall structure, grammar, and readability.
2. Keyword Research
Keywords are the mainstay of SEO. To improve your website’s ranking in Google’s search engine algorithms, every page should have a keyword strategy.
That’s why each page needs its own keyword. Here are some common methods for finding keywords:
- Brainstorming: Write down all the keywords you can think of.
- Google’s Keyword Planner helps webmasters reach their target audience.
- In addition, you can use Google to search for business-related pages and get suggestions as you type.
- Q&A sites: Quora receives thousands of questions daily. Check out the frequently asked questions and create pages that address them.
3. Meta Description
While meta keywords are no longer used in SEO, other features like meta descriptions still play a role. Before opening a webpage, most users scan the headlines and meta descriptions.
Google search results always show the latter below the page title. The meta description is a genuine CTA booster, encouraging people to click the link and read your content.
4. SEO Checkup
A regular SEO audit is required to maintain website productivity. Every now and then you need to look over the entire website for flaws. It includes several steps:
- Examine each page’s meta descriptions.
- Optimize each post’s keywords.
- Examine your article’s URL structure.
- Check image ALT tags.
- Test your website’s mobile-friendliness to ensure it’s optimized for smartphone use.
These steps will help you determine the website’s SEO value. Also, it will show you where you need to improve content or add missing elements to increase SEO potential.
5. Produce Quality Content
No amount of SEO knowledge will help you gain traffic unless you publish high-quality content on your website. Simply write relevant posts, explain niche-related phenomena, and help users.
That’s why blog posts are getting longer – good analysis takes more words. The ideal blog post length is now around 1,600 words. But plain text can only take you so far.
Use multimedia to make your content more appealing to the average user. For example, online retailers benefit greatly from product reviews. This type of video content educates viewers on your products or services, enticing them to buy.
Conclusion
Online marketing is impossible without SEO. It is a set of principles that make your website more visible and appealing to Google. Using these 5 basic SEO principles will help you increase website traffic and sales.