Running a business is not as simple as it used to be. Every business has to have an online presence because that’s how customers find you and get to know your business. But, the internet has become extremely competitive with the technological evolution and it can be challenging to survive in this cut-throat space if you don’t adopt the right strategy.
SEO is one of the most important techniques most businesses use to rank higher in search engine result pages (SERP). Your SEO strategy can potentially make or break your business and that’s precisely why adopting the right strategy is crucial to your success. An important thing to keep in mind is that SEO needs the internet to take effect. If you don’t have a reliable internet connection like CenturyLink internet to optimize your website or content, achieving a good result might be harder than you think.
Remember that SEO is a vast field and you learn more as you go. It’s impossible to cover the entire subject in one article. However, we’ve listed some of the basic and most important things that you should focus on for starters. Read on to know more.
Target Relevant Keywords
You might have heard the term keywords. Well, there are two types of keywords, primary and secondary. Primary keywords are those which are central to the idea of the post, or something you want to build content around. Alternatively, secondary keywords support the main keyword and are usually subtopics within the main topic.
You’ll find many keyword research tools out in the market. While some of them are free, you might need to buy a subscription for more advanced tools. If you’re beginning your SEO journey, you can use free tools. You’ll need to enter a seed word or phrase and let the tool come up with related terms with search volume and importance. Then, you can choose your keywords and base your content around it.
Your content has a better chance of ranking higher and getting more impressions this way. Anyone searching for those terms can potentially come across your content and visit your website.
Write Good Content
The next and most important step is to produce good-quality content. Google has a stringent no-plagiarism policy and if it feels like you plagiarized your content, it will penalize your website. Nowadays, you can find many plagiarism detection tools online. Some of them are free, while the more popular ones charge a monthly subscription or per request.
However, plagiarism is only one thing. Your website content has to be informative and provide value to the reader. A successful SEO strategy can only make more impressions and bring the reader to your website. Then, it’s your content that should engage them and potentially make them want to convert. Another benefit of writing good content is that it will make a lasting impression on the readers, and they’re more likely to return to your website for further reading.
Optimize Your Title Tags and Meta Description
When Google indexes your content, they only take the meta title and meta description and show it to the user on their search page. The title is highlighted and is the first thing a user notices. This is where they can click and be redirected to your website. The meta description is the short description below the title tag. It informs users about what they can expect to find on the web page.
WordPress has a dedicated title tag and meta description box where you can paste both of these. The exact same input is then displayed on the SERP. If you don’t add a meta title and description, Google scans your content and picks up an excerpt from the text to display in their SERP.
Get Backlinks
Backlinks are crucial to successful SEO. This is where you get high-domain authority websites to link back to you. This lets the search engine know that your content is of high quality and is hence displayed on a high-domain authority website. The more websites link back to your site, the more likely it is to rank higher.
The process to obtain backlinks is called link building. You can write for other websites and ask them for a link. Alternatively, you can head over to a specialized link-building SEO tool, which analyzes your competitors’ backlinks and shows you opportunities to get backlinks.
You can also get your website or company listed in the local directories. This can help build credibility for your brand and allow potential prospects to find you through them.
Conclusion
As we’ve discussed above, SEO is very important for your website to rank higher in SERP. An important thing to note is that SEO is a vast field and it takes a lot of time to master. That is why you should keep an eye out for the latest trends and be open to learning new concepts.
