Would you like to increase your Google ranking and traffic to your website in 2017? But maybe you’re confused about which SEO tactics and techniques will give your website the best boost.
With some simple, approved ‘white hat’ search engine optimisation you can increase your online presence and keep the integrity of your site. So, where do you begin with SEO? Here are 7 common sense tips to help you get started on ranking higher in 2017.
1. Keyword rich content
What popular search terms relate to the services you offer? Ensure that you are using the key words and search phrases that your potential customers search for throughout your site’s content. Create well-written content that provides answers to the public’s questions and explains your products and services in detail. This will serve up your site higher than a site that has minimal engaging content.
2. Clear titles and meta-descriptions
For an effective SEO strategy start by looking at what people might use to find your site. Look for multi-word phrases that are used to search for your products and services then use this in your headers. Using these keywords and key phrases in your titles and meta-descriptions will increase click through to your pages as they match what people are searching for. The meta-description is one of the most important features for improving your click through from a search results page.
3. Tagging your images
Giving all your sites images a descriptive tag will tell any visitors, and search engines, the function of the image on that page, as well as what the image is of.
Search engines cannot see images, so a descriptive tag will describe the purpose of the image as well as help to determine what the text around the image may be about.
4. Indexing your website
Stop struggling to get your main pages seen by search engines and your target audience! Ensure search engines record your web pages, using tools like Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster to upload your sitemap. This is a quick and easy way to get started on ensuring search engines are indexing your most important pages.
5. Know your page speed
If your pages are taking too long to load, it will increase your website bounce rate and will also decrease your ranking across search engines. Page speed is considered one of the important factors for Google ranking. Use Google’s page speed insights to find out your page load times. Google will then offer you recommendations to help you fix any issues.
6. Quality Inbound Links
When your website is shared, or linked to somewhere online, it creates an inbound link to your website. Search engines value websites differently, depending on how reliable they are. If the websites linking to your own, are highly regarded by search engines, the link to your site will be considered a good link, and contribute to your increased ranking. However, if a website linking to you is disapproved by a search engine, or has no relevance to your own website, being linked to it will damage your ranking.
7. Are you mobile-friendly?
There is no excuse for having a non-responsive website in 2017. According to Google, in 2016 over 50% of searches came from mobiles. As the number one device to search on, it is crucial that your visitors can view your site on their mobile. Google is also working on prioritising their index to mobile-first. With a highly responsive mobile site, your website will be placed higher than those that are non-responsive, and not mobile ready.
Get started on improving your online presence with these tips. If you would like a FREE SEO audit of your website, please email louise@tweakuk.com. With our marketing and SEO expertise I am sure we can help optimise your site for search engines in a variety of ways, that will help you grow your traffic, and increase your ranking on Google. We keep SEO simple for you.
