In a world where we have search engines in our pockets and someone’s first thought, when they have a question, is to ask Google (or Alexa, or Siri), SEO (search engine optimization) has never been more important. Simply, if someone can’t find you on a search engine they won’t know you exist, so if you aren’t already working on your website’s SEO, now’s the time to learn about 6 Guaranteed Ways to Build Better SEO:
What is On-Site SEO?
On-site SEO (also known as on-page SEO) are the changes you can make on your website to improve your search engine rankings. This includes the content you add to your page to help your visitors and become more visible on search engines and the “backend” elements like meta descriptions and other elements your visitors can’t see.
3 Guaranteed Ways to Build Better On-site SEO
- Create Searchable Content
One of the key ways you can improve your SEO is by creating pages for your site that answer your visitors’ questions, whether that be about your services or a seemingly unrelated question you can help them with. Think of how many times a week (or likely a day) you ask a search engine a question – a lot, right? – and if you are a great resource, search engines will want to show your content.
- Ensure Your Site is Easily Navigated
Are the pages your audience need to find easily accessible? If not, you need to consider the user experience and show them the way. Try to imagine how your visitors will come onto your website and then find the information they are looking for. If there are too many steps they need to take – or if it isn’t clear at all, you’ll lose them.
- Edit Your Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are the description you see below a page title on the search engine’s results page. You’ll notice that some meta descriptions appear to be a random snippet from the page, while others are an enticing pitch of why the user needs to visit that page. Depending on your platform there are different ways to edit your meta description, but one recommendation is a plugin for WordPress called Yoast SEO, which will help you write great meta descriptions for each page.
What is Off-Site SEO?
Off-site SEO (also known as off-page SEO) are actions you take outside of your own website to improve your search engine rankings by helping your site look more trustworthy and relevant to search engines. Off-site SEO is often intimidating to those new to SEO, but don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it may seem.
3 Guaranteed Ways to Build Better Off-site SEO
- Build Backlinks by Networking
Finding ways to build backlinks (links from other sites to yours) is at the core of off-site SEO, and it’s also the reason new website owners often sigh and surrender – how are you supposed to improve something that’s out of your control? Well, there are a few things you can do. Firstly, when you write new content for your site and link to other pages (naturally), you can email the site to let them know you linked to them (and why) and sometimes they’ll link back or share your content.
- Build Backlinks with Guest Blogging
There are plenty of sites who are happy to have you write an article for them that they’ll post (in which you can link back to your own site) and websites where you can share your own content and link back to your website either in your bio or as a relevant link. Two great websites for this are Medium and Quora. Medium allows you to upload your own articles to help their readers, and Quora is a question and answer site where you can share your expertise with those who ask questions. Link to your own helpful content in your answers to drive backlinks.
- Be Active on Relevant Social Media Sites
Don’t forget to share your content and other relevant news on your social media profiles. Remember not to spam just for links – search engines won’t appreciate that – but if you share relevant content to your followers and drive them back to your website, search engines will take notice and improve your rankings.
There are, of course, plenty of other SEO tactics you can implement later, but if you focus on these 6 Guaranteed Ways to Build Better SEO, now you’ll see your website appearing higher in the search results for your keywords and phrases. If you don’t have time, why not ask the professionals to help?
First, grab your copy of our new report 11 Reasons SEO is Killing Your Business
Then head over to this way to learn more about our search marketing services