by Stefan Jeannin of iOnline
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“So why isn’t my website coming up on page one, and how do I fix it?” Is the most common questions we hear at iOnline. The answer is, as you would expect, not as simple and straightforward as we would hope it would be. There is no easy way to get the best ranking on Google.
There are, however, a few things – if done correctly, which will help to improve your website’s traffic and rankings. The SEO boffin’s here at iOnline have compiled the best first 10 steps to getting your site ranking better for you!
Step 1: Speed test your site
Google & Bing like a fast loading page! Check out Googles Page Speed Insights to analyse your website. It’s a great way to see what needs fixing on both mobile and desktop environments. It also gives you helpful “how to fix” suggestions as well as user experience issues.
Step 2: Your website must be responsive. Mobile friendly
Desktop computers are no longer the be all and end all. In this day and age, we need to consider the amount of people now accessing the web on devices such as mobiles, phablets, tablets, hybrid laptops to fitness watches and now VR sets!
How do you check if your site is mobile friendly? Check out Googles Mobile-Friendly Tester.
Step 3: Keywords & How to target the right ones?
Ok I won’t lie, it’s incredibly hard to rank high with some keywords, actually, it is difficult to rank high with most keywords nowadays. There is just way too much competition out there on a lot of the keywords you will want to use, and going up against the much larger companies that can throw money at SEO like there is no tomorrow is a battle most of us won’t win.
There is however another path you can take – looking for keywords with less competition.
Any given month you can find keywords ranking well but lack competition, choosing keywords like these can allow you draw more traffic. Google has provided the Keywords Research Tools, here you will be able to see search volumes on your specific keywords, and be able to work out the best ones to use.
Step 4: Optimize your website around these Keywords.
I will cover the main points here briefly, you can read my other blog post “How to write a blog that ticks all the boxes”, which goes into these points in greater detail.
URL Optimization: The best way to do this is to have the URL describe the page and content so it’s easier for Google to crawl and see the relevant content provided. For example: www.yourdomain.com/name-it-like-this-to-do-it-right-so-google-will-understand.
Keywords in the title: You want to work in your keywords here with in a descriptive title, keep it short – under 60 characters. Say your keywords we’re “retractable garden hose” your title would be “awesome tips for buying the best retractable garden hose”. Another tool that’s worth noting is the Moz: New Title Tag Guideline & Preview Tool.
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Header Tags: The H1 HTML Header tag is the most important tag to optimize with your keywords.
Image Names Alt Tags: I tend to use naming style similar to the URL, again optimize with your keywords. If it’s a picture of a yummy donut on a plate, call it “yummy-donut-on-a-plate.jpg” and make sure the ALT text describes the image as well. So to look at in in code <img src=”/yummy-donut-on-a-plate.jpg” al= ”Check out the yummy donut on my plate” />.
Meta Description: A short description that gives users more information, make sure it does not exceed 155 characters, or the search engine may cut it off.
Internal Links: Link building isn’t just reserved for external sites linking back to your website.
Link to other posts that might be related and have more information about a certain subject matter you might be covering in your current blog post.
External Links: Link to quality external websites, link building goes both ways. So you might as well read all my other super awesome blog posts here at iOnline J See a shameless backlink if I ever saw one!
Step 5: Keep your Page Updated regularly.
Search engines love new content so it’s a good idea to be continually updating content on the pages of your website & blogs.
Step 6: Content is King – Blog often, blog now!
Blogging is a great tool, providing a place for quick and relevant content creation! Blog posts can be shared on social media, optimized with your keywords, and build trust with your users.
With blogging , you have a great tool appear as an authority in your field. This will generate organic traffic to your website, which is the main goal of all SEO practices.
Don’t know how to write a good blog posts? I have a blog on that, check it out at “How to write a blog that ticks all the boxes”.
Step 7: Get Social on Social Media!
One of the first thing you should be looking at is social media, if you’re not sure which ones are right for you, make sure you read my other blog Top 7 Social Media your Business needs. A huge amount of traffic can be generated from Social Media, and Google loves links that come from social media sites.
Once you have your social media portals ready you can share your blog content to try and drive people back to your site.
Also join Facebook or LinkedIn groups related to your industry and/or field. If you can, help with questions asked by linking to previously written blog post or article.
Step 7: Link Building – Offsite Optimization
Google gives you more credit for quality inbound links, a.k.a. backlinks. The basic goal here is to get other website to link back to you.
One of the best way is to reach out to other business in your industry or that you work with and ask them to link back to you. Another option can be to submit blog posts to popular blogs in your industry or field.
Step 8: Get found on Google by setting up Google My Business!
Setting your business up on Google My Business and Places is very easy and it will allow users to find you on Google Maps and across all Google services.
Step 9: Monitor your results, adjust and monitor again.
Firstly, you will need to set up Google Analytics and allow it to start tracking your site. You can learn a lot about your visitors and monitor all your traffic and even set up goals, which can let you see what keywords lead visitors to a CTA or form on your website.
You can also use other tools for monitoring metrics, 2 of my favourites are Raven tools and Authority Labs. Both have 30 day free trials so you can set them up to track keywords, analytics as well as social media and even SEO performance Audits.
Step 10: Content is king
Remember that fresh relevant engaging content that users can easily access, and consume, is the best way to get organic traffic and rank higher.
If you follow these suggestions you will be in a much better standing to receive traffic, and Google and Bing will be a lot happier with your optimized site.
Hopefully you will start seeing this translate into an increase in the traffic your new site is receiving.
For more advice on how you can help your site perform better. Whether it’s to increasing your sites traffic, increase lead generation or what marketing strategies to use for your business. Feel free to read our blog and of course if you need an agency to partner with building your digital presence then get in touch with the Gold Coast leading digital agency iOnline for all your web and online marketing needs.
Stefan Jeannin of iOnline